


somewhere along the way.

by melbopo



Series: somewhere along the way. [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Allydia - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Blood, F/F, Femslash, From friends to lovers, Full Fanfic!, I just think there needs to be more, It's finally happening, Kinda out of character?, Nightmares, Recreational Drug Use, Road Trips, Slow Build, TW FemSlash in the world, Underage Drinking, in legal cities!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-01-07 08:58:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1117992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melbopo/pseuds/melbopo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of Allison and Lydia's three week road trip across the country to escape the bad memories haunting them in Beacon Hills but they fall in love somewhere along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jar of Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> This is completely unbeta'd so please let me know if you see any errors! Also I am not a writer nor am I studying to be one, so I know my writing is not perfect and this is the first time in a longgg time that I am writing fanfic so be patient with me.
> 
> Each chapter title refers to the content of the chapter but is also a song title from the playlists made which you can check out in the series and on 8tracks!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> ***UPDATE: I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION FOR ANYONE TO POST MY WORK ON ANY OTHER SITE SUCH AS GOODREADS OR E-BOOKTREE***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter doesn't include Allison but it addresses a lot of Jackson things that I wish were addressed. I named this chapter in my mind "Everything I wish Jackson Would Say".
> 
> I'm really excited about writing this and I hope you enjoy it!

[ ](http://ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/post/72145521130/somewhere-along-the-way-a-teen-wolf-allydia-road)

It’s a Thursday night in the middle of the summer before senior year and Lydia is in the midst of going through all the practice problems in her Advanced Placement Physics textbook in preparation for the fall because with the erratic schedule of supernatural attacks, who knows when she will have time to complete her assignments during the actual school year. She finds it better to complete them during the quiet hours of the summer when the supernatural seem to also be on break. Lydia’s taken the mentality that it is best to be safe rather than sorry when the supernatural is involved and god forbid it gets in the way of her perfect grade point average.

She set up court for all her AP work in the kitchen due to its large table for all of her textbooks and proximity to food. In one corner of the table sits all of her completed work for AP Calculus AB and AP Statistics. The other half of the table is filled with papers, books, and notes on physics with a corner of psychology and Latin notes that she plans to complete by the end of summer.

Lydia is sitting on the counter next to the stove with her feet resting up on the kitchen table; in one hand she holds her physics text book, a highlighter in between her teeth and a purple pen behind her ear, her other hand is slowly petting Prada, who is fast asleep in her lap, and she keeps an eye on her panini for dinner that is slowly cooking on the stove. No one is home except for her, so she plays her pre-emptive road trip playlist quietly in the background over the kitchen speakers. Knocking at her front door startles Lydia slightly out of her textbook reading and Prada begins barking frantically. Lydia gently picks up Prada as she hops off the counter and places her beloved dog on the ground.

Lydia thinks it might be Allison visiting for help on her biology summer work since Lydia took the course last year or to smooth out more details about their road trip they have been planning for the past six months. The road trip is a treat to each other, an “I can’t believe we have survived this long” celebration, and a “we should do things we really want to do before we die” list. But to everyone they know, including their respective parent, they tell them it’s a college tour road trip. It isn’t a complete lie, they plan to visit some colleges on the East Coast but it isn’t the full truth either. 

She walks to the door and opens it to find the last person she ever expected to be at her door: Jackson Whittemore. She freezes momentarily, her breathe catching in her throat, and her heart begins to beat faster. She looks behind him to see if there is something there, anything there to explain this, to make this a prank, to make it not real. All she sees is his familiar silver Porsche that has not been seen around town since he left for London. A familiar sly smirk comes across Jackson’s face, mistaking the increase of her heartbeat for happiness rather than fear. Lydia’s eyes focus back on Jackson and his irritating smirk. She bristles, remembering how much she used to love that cocky smirk of his. Prada seems to notice her distress, angrily yelps and bares her teeth at this now unfamiliar person at the door. Jackson looks at Prada, confusion coming across his face because Prada used to love him, and reaches towards the pint size dog, but Lydia steps in front of Prada. Prada stops yelping and sits next to Lydia, always faithful. Lydia crosses her arms across her chest as she says coolly.

“I didn’t know you were back in town Jackson.”

Jackson’s eyes flick back up to Lydia as he straightens up to face her again. The smirk is now gone from his face and his eyes look almost sad, but Lydia refuses to believe it. The more she thinks about what is happening right now, the angrier she feels. She is fuming; the anger boiling under her skin as she takes Jackson’s appearance in. He looks just as handsome as ever with beautiful cheek bones, perfectly styled hair, and adorable butt chin. He is wearing his typical prep outfit of a black short sleeved button up with khaki shorts and boat shoes. If she didn’t already know that it would hurt her more than him to punch him in the face right now, she would. God she would. A tiny part of her hates that he doesn’t look worse for wear from his time in London, especially since it reiterates the fact that he might actually look better now without her. The rest of her hates that thought entirely because he treated her terribly throughout their entire relationship and the kanima situation before just disappearing in the middle of the night for London. But their relationship was every bit of high school that she no longer feels: a time when she was naïve, insecure, and didn’t believe that there ever could be better for her. Now she knows better, having grown up exponentially since he left. It’s hard to admit but maybe it did them both good. But she is still furious that he would audacity to believe that she would go running back to his arms after everything that happened between them and that his presence has thrown her world that she has built up from scratch a little off kilter. To be honest, she never expected Jackson to come back to Beacon Hills.

Jackson looks down and coughs awkwardly, as if sensing Lydia’s anger, which he probably can after honing his werewolf skills abroad. He seems to be taking time to remind himself of something in his head. Perhaps it is a reason as to why he is here, why he came to Lydia, what he wants say, or maybe he just wants to get back together. He looks up at her, meets her heated glare, and speaks softly.

“I just got in a couple of hours ago. I… uh… I just needed to see you. I mean I missed you while I was gone. And I wanted to talk to you the entire time but I couldn’t… I just couldn’t. I need to tell you something… I mean I want to tell you something that I think is really important. I need... I mean want to apologize.”  
Jackson looks at her pleading her to understand, but Lydia just crosses her arms tighter against her body. Her hands clenching into fists as she grinds her teeth in annoyance at his words. The idea of punching him crosses her mind again and she wonders if her broken hand will be worth it. She grits out angrily:

“I don’t care Jackson. Whatever you need to say, you can go tell Derek. I don’t want you here; you are two years too late on your god damn apology.”

“Lydia! Please listen to me for five minutes. Please. Then I will leave you alone for as long as you want. I promise. Please just hear me out. Please?”

Lydia slowly stops grinding her teeth each time Jackson pleads with her. She knows he is not one for begging for anything and any time it happens, it means he is being as genuine as he can possibly be. A tiny bit of Lydia’s anger recedes enough for her to be curious as to whatever the hell he has to say to her. She breathes out harshly.

“I will give you precisely five before I slam this door in your face and walk away from you forever. Clock starts now.”

Jackson relaxes slightly in relief as he nods his head at her words. He takes in a big breathe as if he has much to say and five minutes might not be enough time for him to say it all therefore he can’t waste time taking breathes.

“First of all, I am terribly sorry for way I treated you while we were and weren’t dating. I was emotionally and physically abusive to you, and no one deserves that. You were pretty much the greatest thing in my life; you always pushed me to be the best that I could be and sometimes that angered me so much because you knew more about what I needed than I did. You managed to get under my skin in a way that both thrilled and horrified me so I lashed out my insecurities at you whenever I felt vulnerable or unhappy or whatever. It was unwarranted and unjustifiable. While I was in London, I fully realized just how toxic our relationship was. We were awful to each other and I am so sorry for that.  
I’m also sorry for keeping you in the dark about what was going, for not listening to you when you needed me, and for being so self-absorbed in my issues and desires that I did not see you struggling to simply stay afloat. But once again, I was in a bad place and just couldn’t see how selfish and destructive I was.  
You and Danny were my best friends and I regretted leaving the way I did for London every single day I was away. I am sorry for not attempting to contact either of you as well. It was something I just needed to do for myself. I needed to discover myself, what I wanted, and who I hoped to become. I couldn’t do that with ties still in Beacon Hills. I know that is the shittiest reason or even excuse but I am entirely serious. I truly believed that you would be better without me, without any trace of me, and that I would benefit more with a clean cut of my ties in Beacon Hills.  
Of course you are probably thinking what the hell is in London’s water to make me suddenly realize all of this, well there isn’t anything. I finally took your advice. I started seeing a psychologist, a supernatural psychologist, in London. You were the only person that ever really heard or knew about any of my feelings, fears, and insecurities and once I was completely and utterly alone in a foreign country I realized how much help I needed. You were right the entire time: getting help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength, a sign that I know my limitations as a person and that I could use help from time to time. It was actually his idea that I talk to you when I told him I was going home. I haven’t decided if I will stay for senior year but I will be here for the rest of the summer.  
That doesn’t mean I want or expect us to get back together. That is not my intention at all; I think we might be too toxic for each other. Plus you look like you’ve been doing amazing without me. Hell, I don’t even expect you to forgive me! I just needed to tell you this for my sanity. I needed to tell you the truth for once and genuinely apologize to you. I’m sorry for everything Lydia. You deserve nothing but the best, and I know and see now that I am not the best for you. I truly hope you get it.”  
Jackson finishes with a slight nod to himself, a quiet relieved smiles comes across his lips. He puts his hands into the pockets on his shorts. Lydia feels frozen from the inside out, as if the words she just heard have rendered her motionless as well as speechless. Her brain feels like it has been mixed up and reversed. Everything she swore she was sure of before, she is not so confident about right now. She hates this feeling and she hates that Jackson has made her feel like this. Suddenly, she comes back to herself and the moment. She turns off her emotions, not currently possessing the strength to analyze them right now with Jackson in front of her. Not when she feels so extremely vulnerable in a way that only old lovers can make one feel. A smirk comes to her lips and she loosens one of her arms from across her chest to hold the door. She responds to him in matter of fact manner.

“Well you are right about one thing: I have been and I am better off without you. Good bye Jackson.”

Right as the counting in her mind reaches three hundred Lydia slams the door in Jackson’s face. She lets out a huge breathe that she didn’t know she had been holding in as she leans her head against the door, her mind reeling after that unexpected visit. Prada softly licks Lydia’s calf, jerking Lydia back from her thoughts. She sniffs the air and smells something burning. Shit. She forgot her dinner on the stove. She hears Jackson mutter one last thing from behind the door before she turns away to the kitchen and her ruined dinner.

“Thanks for giving me the five minutes I never gave you Lydia. Take care.”

Lydia turns cold all over once again and freezes in her spot in her hallway because she can hear the genuineness in his voice. Something that is usually so rare in Jackson but she witnessed twice tonight. The last time he had been that gentle with her, so genuine, was that night with the key to his house. That night she shoved herself head first, blindly, into the world of the supernatural, all for-No. She is not going there. She is not thinking about that right now. She is a different person now. She stays rooted to that post in the middle of her front hallway, waiting for the familiar purr of the Porsche coming alive before she allows the feeling of relief to wash over her. A thought crosses her mind and Lydia decides in a nanosecond to run with it. Now is time.


	2. Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, this has been unbeta'd! Let me know if you see any major errors~
> 
> Enjoy!

[ ](http://www.melbopo.tumblr.com)

It takes Lydia exactly forty-two minutes from the moment that Jackson leaves to: dispose of her charcoaled dinner, move her books to her room, feed and take out Prada, write a note for her mom, grab her bags, and drive to Allison’s. Lydia knows because she counted each second out and because it took forty-two minutes too long for her to escape her house, to escape the scene where she had almost unraveled everything she had been so careful to build up for herself these past two years simply due to the appearance of an old lover.

Lydia parks in Allison’s apartment complexes driveway and is lucky to find Allison’s neighbor about to take her dog out so she lets Lydia slip into the building. Other than that one neighbor, the lobby is completely disserted which makes sense since it is almost midnight in the middle of the week. Lydia takes the elevator up to the Argent’s floor. She crosses her arms while she waits and taps her foot with a general air of impatience. When the elevator finally arrives to the correct floor, Lydia walks to Allison’s door and knocks firmly. Mr. Argent answers it and wordlessly lets her in; all too used to the late night appearances of Lydia on his doorstep. He learned that it is better to let her in than delay the inevitable early on. Lydia smiles gratefully at him before heading straight to Allison’s bedroom. Lydia knocks politely at Allison’s closed door. Allison calls out:

“Come in!”

“Look at you being so studious!”

Lydia remarks as she walks in. Allison smiles at her best friend, chuckling to herself slightly. She is sitting on her bed with her notes sprawled out around her. She is holding a pen in her mouth. She does not look surprised to see Lydia at her house. It’s an unspoken agreement they have; unwarranted visits are always allowed-especially in the middle of the night if/when nightmares become too much to handle alone. Lydia stands at the foot of Allison’s bed with her hands on her hips, she says casually.

“Are you packed already? I know we aren’t supposed to leave for another week but I just finished the playlist for our trip. So we should leave tonight. I’m ready.”

To leave this town goes unsaid from Lydia’s lips but Allison hears it anyway in her own mind; she can’t help but agree. She squints at Lydia, looking for any clues of what caused this sudden need to leave. She knows that something is wrong, but she knows better than to mention it right now. Lydia will tell her when she feels ready to talk about it. Allison smiles and nods her head.

“Okay. Let me just pack some of my books. Give me ten minutes and then I will be ready to go.”

Allison gets off her bed and picks up some of her books, she does not miss the sigh of relief Lydia lets out. Lydia is glad that Allison did not even question her request because honestly, Lydia couldn’t talk about it right now. She just needs to get out of this small suffocating town sooner rather than later.  
Lydia says nothing when Allison opens her closet door and there is a duffle bag already packed on her floor, snacks and books pocking out of her backpack by her bed. She knows they both have had their bags packed for this trip weeks in advance simply in preparation and excitement to finally leave this place far behind them; for some degree of normalcy even if it just a couple of weeks.

“Don’t forget your phone charger! I left my mom a note explaining that we left a week early because my interview at MIT changed.”

It says something about their friendship that Allison didn’t even bat an eyelash at this random piece of information. She knows Lydia is telling her so that their stories match up incase their respective parent speaks to the another, which isn’t very likely, but they both follow the belief of being safe rather than sorry goes both ways. They discovered that little things can even make a difference overall. Allison nods as she packs her phone charger, her Chinese daggers, and a couple more books into her backpack. She grabs the GPS sitting on her desk and her wallet. She shoulders her backpack, grabs her duffle, and drapes her jacket over her arm. She double checks her packing list in her mind. There are a couple of things downstairs she plans on bringing but she can grab that on their way out. She smiles big and genuinely excited at Lydia.

“Let’s rock.”

Lydia matches Allison’s smile without a second thought. Allison’s excitement is infectious. Lydia takes the bags from Allison so she can talk to her father before they head out. Lydia isn’t sure what to expect from Mr. Argent about their sudden fleeing nighttime departure; he can be a wild card. Lydia waits patiently by the front door, trying her hardest not to eavesdrop. A little bit of their conversation reaches her ear.

“Allison, it’s the middle of the night! Can’t you at least wait until the morning?”

“No Dad, I can’t. If I don’t leave now, then you could find a way to push it off another day and then another. Lydia wants to leave now and I agree with her. It feels right leaving now without much of a warning. It’s smoother this way. We need it Dad. We deserve the break, don’t we? It’s only a couple of weeks…”

“Fine. But don’t forget to check in at least once a day! Be careful Allison. I love you.”

Lydia tunes out the rest of their conversation, thinking about her lackluster goodbye to her family and how usual that was for them. She feels grateful for Allison and hers friendship when she not only defends Lydia’s desires to leave immediately as well as understands. She sees Allison and her father coming around the corner, Allison is carrying another two bags. Lydia smiles big at them.

“All set? Thanks for letting me kidnap your daughter! We’ll see you in three weeks Mr. Argent!”

“Stay safe girls! Don’t get in cars with strangers… Uhhh… and make sure you have fun, alright?”

“Alright Dad! We will. Bye!”

Allison said as she gently shooed Lydia out of the front door. She is careful to hold the bags she is carrying out of Lydia’s eye sight which makes Lydia suspicious but she doesn’t question it, she is too busy waiting for Mr. Argent to come after them saying he changed his mind. They make it to the car without incident. Lydia watches Allison back her extra bags into the back of the car: a small tent and a thermal sleeping bag. Lydia simply raises her eyebrow at Allison when they make eye contact. Allison blushes as she closes the trunk to avoid eye contact. Allison mutters to Lydia,

“Wait? I’ve always wanted to camp out under the stars. This is the perfect time! Come on. Let’s go before my dad changes his mind…”

Allison said with a gesture of her head towards the car. Lydia laughs as she opens the driver’s door, both at Allison’s idea that wanting to go camping is something to be embarrassed about and the fact that they have the same fear about Allison’s dad. They both buckle in as Lydia starts driving, leaving Allison’s apartment as well as Beacon Hills

“No I like that idea! It sounds fun and adventurous-like normal people’s version of adventurous.”

“Lydia, we are normal people.”

“HA! Good one. We are far from normal and we both know that. Your family hunts supernatural creatures as a career and hobby and I’m a banshee. Completely normal.”

“Fine. You’re right BUT the point of this trip is to have a fun and adventurous road trip! It’s to leave Beacon Hills and “be normal” for a couple of weeks, right?”

“I don’t think normal exists anywhere Allison, but we can get as close to it as possible. This trip is about new experiences, living life, having fun, and us. We’ll just make the best out of it.”

“Good! That’s what I want to hear. Now, let’s make a list of everywhere and everything we want to do in our three weeks of freedom. Come on, I’ll start: camp out under the stars.”

While Allison speaks, she reaches into her backpack and procures a notebooks and a pen. She begins writing down a list of places they want to go. Lydia glances over at Allison writing, one hand on the wheel and the other elbow resting on the door frame, holding her head up while she thinks, a smile on her lips

“Hmmm… Walk through the Redwood forest! Oh and Niagara Falls!”

“I’ve never been to the Redwood Forest either! When we are on the East Coast, can we go Acadia? It’s this national park in Maine that is supposed to be stunning! How about the walking the Freedom Trail in Boston after your interview with MIT? Oh and I want to go to those dumb tourist sites-“

“Like the world’s biggest metal turkey sculpture?! Me too! I think we should stop by as many as possible. I’ve always wanted to go to the Holocaust museum in DC. Also we should drive on Route 66 for a little bit. I feel like it’s a basic right as an American.”

Allison laughs as she jots it down, shaking her head slightly. She puts the pen in her mouth and chews on it slightly while she thinks. She digs out the GPS she packed from her backpack and begins to set it up on the dashboard. They pass a “Leaving Beacon Hills” sign, and even though they say nothing to each other they both feel an unnoticed tension in their shoulders drain out. It’s as if a weight on their chest neither of them acknowledges was lifting with every mile they put between them and the memories haunting them in Beacon Hills. Allison removes the pen from her mouth before she speaks.

“Let’s head up to the Redwood National Park first. We can add to our list as we go. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect to me. Why don’t you get some rest? It’s only about a six hour drive until we get there.”

“Promise you’ll wake me for our first sunrise?”

“Absolutely.”

Lydia smiles at Allison’s raised eyebrows, which relaxes her immediately. Allison was already tired prior to Lydia’s arrival and she can feel herself starting to drift off. The quiet hum of the car’s engine and the darkness around them helps create the perfect atmosphere for her to sleep. She balls her jacket up into a makeshift pillow to rest her head against the window. She yawns big and smiles quietly to herself, excitement drumming under her skin for the trip ahead. For the first time in a long time, she feels happiness and excitement instead of worry about the unknown that lies ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan to update this fanfic weekly so I hope you stay interested!
> 
> If you want to heckle me, you can find me on [tumblr~](http://www.justanotherbeautifulface.tumblr.com)


	3. Miss Independent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a day late but I made it super long to make up for it! I had a friend emergency last night and today was also hectic. I do plan to keep posting on Friday nights!
> 
> Still unbeta'd so let me know if you see anything that is completely butchered please let me know? I also used plenty of liberty when writing about the strip club because I am not exactly sure how performances work and I hope I didn't mess it up or offend anyone with my interpretation!
> 
> This chapter incorporates everything I plan to have in this story: opening chapter graphic, map of the trip, and instagram posts! I wanted to give it more of a feel like you were following along with their trip and not just reading about it. I don't know if it does that but I like the idea.
> 
> If you click on the instagram photos it takes you to the source of the photos posted and if you click on the map it takes you to the site that has their road trip all mapped out (with attractions!). The site is awesome and you should totally check it out.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/)

Lydia leans over the center console of her car and gently shakes Allison’s shoulder to bring her back from dream land. Allison stirs slightly before burrowing deeper into her makeshift jacket pillow. She mumbles to Lydia,

“Five more minutes.”

Lydia stops her efforts and rolls her eyes fondly, familiar with Allison’s slow starts in the wee hours of the morning from their countless sleepovers. Lydia unclicks her seat belt as she speaks.

“Fine. You can sleep through the sunrise…”

Allison peeks one eye open to glance at the clock on the dashboard. A blurry 5:50am blinks back at her.

“Sunrise?”

“Yes. Didn’t you want to see it? I stopped off for gas and checked the exact time the sun should rise this morning. We have three minutes. I’ll be outside if you wanna join me.”

Allison stretches her arms in front of her as she extends her legs. She sits up slowly, letting her jacket fall to the floor of the car. She stretches her neck to try and remove the slight ache that crept into her muscles from sleeping in the weird position. One hand rubs her eyes as the other unbuckles her seat belt. She begins to speak but a huge yawn comes out instead before she continues.

“Fine. Fine. Fineee. I’m awake and ready to go! When did you stop? I didn’t even notice the car stopped moving…”

“Not that long ago. Here, I picked you up this as well.”

Lydia says as she picks up a to-go coffee cup from the cup holder in the center console and hands it to Allison before opening the car door. Allison takes the offered cup with both of her hands. She lets out an excited noise as the smell of coffee hits her nose. She breathes the refreshing scent in deeply. She takes a sip and sighs happily. She opens her car door and steps out to join Lydia. Allison leans back on the hood of the car next to Lydia. She takes a sip of her coffee while watching the gradient of the sky lighten gradually as the sun begins to rise.

“Ugh. This coffee is just the way I like it.”

“Cream and one sugar. Unless you are hung over, then it is extra cream and extra sugar to keep you sated and tolerable.”

Lydia says to Allison without taking her eyes off of the sunrise; a slight grin plays on her lips as she mentions the last part. A hung over Allison is never pleasant and extra sweet caffeine beverages make her slightly less hostile. Allison laughs and smiles at Lydia over the lid of her coffee cup.

“You spoil me Lydia.”

“And don’t you forget it either.”

Lydia glances over to Allison with a smirk and they share a smile. Lydia faces the sunrise in front of them again with the smile still on her lips. An amicable silence falls between them that is not stifling nor awkward. It is one of those silences that is rather comforting and tends to only occur between two people who truly appreciate each other’s company. About ten minutes pass in this silence with Allison and Lydia simply watching the sunrise in a place other than Beacon Hills for the first time in what feels like decades. Suddenly exhaustion hits Lydia full force from her lack of sleep from the past two days. She fights to stifle a yawn but Allison catches the movement and she finishes the rest of her coffee in one gulp.

“How close are we to Redwood, Lydia?”

“About two hours or so with morning traffic…”

“Why don’t you just rest and I’ll drive the last leg?”

Lydia shrugs as she heads towards the passenger’s side of the car.

“Fine but don’t forget to keep an eye out for a place to eat. I doubt there will be a café in the middle of the woods and you know how important breakfast is in starting the day off right.”

Allison rolls her eyes affectionately as she heads to the driver’s side and opens the door.

“Absolutely my queen.”

Lydia picks up Allison’s jacket from the floor of the car and rolls it up into a pillow again as she sits down in her seat. She playfully sticks out her tongue at Allison while they both buckle their seat belts. Lydia rests the pillow against the car frame and falls fast asleep before Allison even finishes adjusting her seat to drive away. Allison glances over to see Lydia breathing deep and evenly so she lowers the volume of the GPS and sets off for their first destination.

 

[ ](http://www.flickr.com/photos/7107327@N05/5548109621/in/photolist-9sgvGr-bxZT9e-dxiRVL-c8UhKm-cxpUVs-7AWEbB-9Jx3NP-99hG7h-9ku8hB-8frgJK-fnsjF6-ajmZty-9rD4LC-dj79bQ-9kxa4Y-cxpY2u-cxxPRY-bPUHxX-hbkTmr-f73gS8-fS9YsW-81tRy2-8L9fQa-g6Pu3z-g6Qo5P-fKiwMb-dd2uwe-dd2xhy-e9z9TM-dd2w49-fmUwVE-fi6ySq-ebtKCA-fn8mxN-begYJD-98dnC5-dLxj6k-86pbxs-hJUFL3-bVVSMz-bBipyK-dd1xNt-gU7Yz2-8D7jSf-cxpVq7-e6iueC-7Tkwdk-dd2waR-atcrfu-fiAYK4-e53Tza)

Lydia begins to stir in the passenger’s seat due to the cramping muscles in her lower back from her uncomfortable sleeping position. She slowly straightens up in her seat and opens her eyes to take in her surroundings. She is surprised to find that the car is parked and the clock says that it is 10am. A sign on the pole in front of her points the way to the trails in the Redwood Forest. She sees Allison leaning against the fence post in front of the car. Her face is scrunched up in concentration at her the phone in her hands. Her head snaps up when Lydia opens her door and steps out slowly, stretching her muscles as she makes her way towards the fence. She asks Allison,

“Have you really been waiting for two hours for me to wake up?”

“What? Oh no! Traffic was pretty awful and then I stopped to pick us up some breakfast. We’ve only been here for about 30 minutes.”

“You could have just woken me. Now breakfast is going to be cold.”

“No it won’t be! I have it wrapped in my jacket to keep warm. Plus, you look like you could have used a little extra rest.”

Allison gently bumps shoulders with Lydia when she mentions the last part. They worry about each other and are always looking for little ways to make their lives just a smidge easier. Lydia nods at Allison and the thanks goes unsaid between them.

“Well let’s eat then! What did you get me?”

Lydia asks as she sits up on fence itself as Allison goes to the car to grab her jacket that holds the morning’s nourishments. She unwraps her jacket on the roof of the car to reveal a brown paper lunch bag. As she talks, she gestures with her free hand.

“I saw this super busy small homey building that looked like a real mom and pop place, so I obviously had to stop in and I-“

Her phone vibrates loudly in her pocket, interrupting her story. She reaches in her pocket and pulls her phone out. Her face scrunches slightly and she bites her lip as she tries to read the screen of the phone in the glare of the light. She brings the food over to Lydia sitting on the fence and sits down next to her, still reading her phone. Lydia clears her throat a little.

“Sorry! Scott and Isaac just keep texting me. They kinda freaked because we left so suddenly… Oh I got us breakfast bagel sandwiches with fried eggs and not microwaved which you hate.”

“I have nothing anything against microwaving eggs. It’s the artificial plastic eggs that are usually used in those microwaved sandwiches that I detest.

And no. You tell those boys that we are perfectly cable of taking care of ourselves. We are just going on a little road trip and from now on, we will no longer be available to them for the rest of our trip. This is supposed to be a mini vacation for us! To escape all the bad and weird in Beacon Hills! Remember? That includes exes. Tell them if they want to keep up with us they can… follow our Instagram! Yeah our Instagram name should be…”

Lydia holds the breakfast bag a little tighter in her hands as she concentrates on the perfect name for their joint Instagram. She bites on her bottom lip as she tilts her face up as if the answer is written in the clouds. It’s her “concentrating hard” face. Allison interjects with her own suggestion.

“Allydia Adventures! It is a mesh of our names and alliteration!”

“Perfect! It may need an underscore… but I love it. I’ll make it while we eat. Oh! I’ll set our icon as that photo Stiles took of us that time you thought we were being stealthy trailing the school bus to their cross country meet… We both look cute.”

Allison smiles remembering that Stiles sent Lydia the picture of them driving only a moment after Lydia mentioned how not stealthy they were being. The timing had been perfect. Allison opens the bag on Lydia’s lap to take out the bagel sandwiches. She puts one in Lydia’s hand unwrapped and settles down to eat her own. Lydia’s other hand flies across the screen of her smart phone to set up their Instagram. She takes a bite of the bagel and makes an approving noise. She locks her phone once their account is set up so she can focus fully on her breakfast. Allison takes a bite of her bagel and nods in agreement to Lydia’s noise. Even though the grease from the butter used to make these sandwiches is visible in the wrappings, the sandwiches are delicious. Allison uses her free hand to send a quick text to Scott, Isaac, Stiles, and Aiden. She too locks her phone once the message has sent and turns to face Lydia.

“I like and support the no exes rule. You are right. This trip is supposed to be about us and for us.

Oh I almost forgot! While you were resting, I found this app that lets you map out road trips so I made one with all the locations on our list. It looks pretty awesome. I was also thinking we could take like a two hour hike then head up to Portland.”

Allison suggests her plan of action as she passes her phone with the app open to Lydia. (The app/program totally does exist and you can check out their journey by clicking on the map at the end of chapter). Lydia zooms in at each point to verify and nods her head approvingly. She hands Allison’s phone back before jumping off the fence. She crumbles her and Allison’s trash from breakfast into a ball before placing it in the trash barrel near the park sign. Allison adjusts the laces on her sneakers to make them a little bit tighter. Lydia clasps her hands together.

“Just incorporate lunch somewhere in there and it sounds great to me. So let’s go enjoy mother nature’s beauty!”

“Yes, let’s!”

Allison says in a cheerful tone as she straightens back up to join Lydia. They both giggle at their enthusiasm as they head towards the opening trail to the park. It’s the first item on their list so their excitement is genuine as they prepare to hike through some of the tallest trees in the world with minimal sleep on their side. It is the first adventure they have been able to choose for themselves in a long time and it feels like a breath of fresh air.

 

[ ](http://www.flickr.com/photos/79481102@N00/3805950066/in/photolist-6NjumJ-74iR58-7arH9p-7arHhV-7arHnD-7arHsc-7avwGJ-fdJaJa-9FmWiP-gYgDWj-hmvpon-a2isLk-7UtdGM-8ikjTY-9YNJfK-9BeXwz-9vE7ck-ah26Ce-iJthcc-hdjcqx-9MkVFs-f5WdMs-a2mmyf-a2cdJz-8AcNCA-8ih6kt-8ih5hv-8ih4Sx-8ikkgo-8ikjnS-dBnjRQ-8ih5rc-8ih5Nt-8ih4F2-a2isHX-8ih6bF-9TBbWg-aR8JKK-aPwG82-dMyBPU-apCN7J-9UxnNk-abL4Li-abNTSW-bEnAWw-ei9Lv4-9956RU-hmwYka-8NtT88-bqkVBr-abL36i)

“How is it already eight and we are just arriving in Portland? We’ve listened to about eight of those Nightvale podcasts and I feel like we’ve been driving for way more than five hours. Where did the day go?”

“Well Lydia… When you strayed from the path to take a photo of the waterfall, you did get us lost so we left about thirty minutes later than we planned.”

“It was a perfect photo for our Instagram. I had to capture the beauty. We also braked for lunch which took longer than I had planned for our schedule.”

Allison laughs at Lydia’s comment about lunch and shakes her head fondly, tossing her brown curls back and forth. She looks over at Lydia who is focused on the road in front of them so she does not have to face Allison’s next remark that she can already predict.

“Longer than you planned? That is an understatement and you know it! A two hour lunch is ridiculous! All because you refused to go to Olive Garden…”

“I’ve been to Olive Garden before Allison. We are on a trip, an adventure! I want to try out as many new restaurants as possible. I want to eat food that locals eat.”

Allison mutters under her breathe just to rile Lydia up slightly,

“I’m sure the locals eat at Olive Garden.”

“Yeah but you know what I mean! I want to experience the local non-chain restaurants. I just didn’t realize how authentic a place that advertises an authentic-Italian meal would be… The food was really good though.”

Lydia looks over to Allison as she mentioned the quality of the food, checking that Allison isn’t genuinely frustrated at her. It is only the first day of twenty one so Lydia would like to keep the arguments over frivolous things to a minimum. Allison looks to the floor of the car as she mumbles in return.

“Yeah the food was pretty amazing.”

Allison looks back up at Lydia with her smug grin on her face like she knows that Lydia was worried about upsetting her. Lydia rolls her eyes as she takes the exit for Portland and Allison laughs at her reaction. Sometimes they wind each other up in no stress situations to remind each other about what it feels like to be just a normal teenager that doesn’t deal with supernatural entities when they come knocking.

Lydia stops at a red light on a main street in Portland and they take the moment to glance at the city outside their window. It is really busy since it is a Friday night and there are people everywhere. The sun is low in the sky so there is probably only about an hour left of daylight but the weather is perfect and warm. Lydia looks at the clock on the dashboard and continues driving when the light turns green.

“So, are you hungry yet or do we want to take in some local culture?”

“I’m still really full. I could wait another hour or so until dinner. What is this culture that we are taking in?”

Lydia pulls into a parking lot that offers free two hour parking and turns off the car. She gathers her purse and phone from the center console. She reaches into the back of the car to grab some jewelry from her backpack to complete her outfit.

Allison and she changed and freshened up from their hike/pajama clothes into nicer clothes at a gas station prior to eating lunch. Lydia refused to enter an eating establishment in the clothes that she not only slept in but also had done physical activity in. Not knowing where they were eating later, they both donned nice jeans and a shirt that dressed up the outfit.

Lydia begins to slip on her heels while Allison adjusts her hair in the car mirror.

“A strip club of course.”

Allison knows she shouldn’t be surprised but she shakes her head slightly at Lydia.

“Only you Lydia. Only you.”

“We don’t have to go to one if you don’t want to. Portland just claims to have the most strip clubs per capita in the country so I thought it would be fun since we are both over eighteen. There are plenty of other things we can do.”

“No! I want to go. It sounds… interesting. It’s something you should do at least once in your life, right?”

“That’s the spirit! We can also just leave if we don’t like it.”

Lydia exits the car and smooths out the wrinkles in her frilly tank top. Allison hides the GPS in the glove compartment before getting out. She reaches back in, grabs her purse and phone, then checks to make sure she has her license in her purse. Lydia locks the car and offers Allison her arm.

“To the strip clubs!”

Allison loops her arm in Lydia’s and walk with her towards the main street. Lydia glances around, looking for the perfect place for their first stripper experience. She spots a huge sign ahead that says “Mary’s Club” and she pulls Allison towards it. The sign under it says “large performances every hour on the 30”.

“Let’s go here because I don’t know any Marys to taint their name with this experience. Also we have ten minutes before the next performance starts.”

Allison and Lydia walk up to the door and walk straight in. A big intimidating man in a dark tshirt approaches them and asks for an ID. They both show him their license and he draws a black “X” on their hands due to their ineligibility to drink alcohol. He looks back up at their faces and holds out his hand.

“It’s ten dollars for chicks past eight. If you have questions about strip club etiquette don’t ask me. Talk to the bartender.”

Allison glances at Lydia who seems completely un-phased. Lydia reaches into her purse and procures her wallet. She hands him a twenty, he nods and he walks behind them to the group of new comers.

Lydia takes Allison’s arm and brings her to the bar. Allison orders them both a ginger ale. Lydia leans in to Allison’s space while they wait for their drinks and whispers,

“Don’t touch the dancers unless they give you permission first. Tip at least one dollar per song. Don’t dance on stage and don’t ask for sexual favors.”

“Wow. Someone clearly did their homework.”

Allison says as she grabs and pays for their drinks from the bartender and nods her thanks. Lydia shrugs as she takes her cup from Allison.

“How often do I willingly enter a situation unaware?”

“True.”

Allison scans the general floor for a place for them to sit. She sees a table that is just off center and far enough from the stage that they can watch but not be up close and personal. She leads Lydia there by her elbow and they settle into their seats. Almost all the seats at the front of the stage are filled mostly men but there are some women; the club is filled with about forty people. Suddenly the lights of the club dim and music begins to play slowly. Seven women walk onto the T-shaped stage during the opening words of the song; each dancer stops at a pole that is evenly spaced from each other along the stage. Once the beat picks up, so do the performer’s dance moves. The group of women performs for three songs then exits the stage. Three new women walk onto the stage and take places at the same location as the other dancers. They too dance for two songs before exiting the stage.

Five new women walk onto the T-shaped stage during the opening words of the song that is currently playing. Allison and Lydia share a look because they recognize the beat because it’s a favorite of theirs; it’s Muse by O.C.A.D. The bass of the music thumps loudly as the lyrics begin. All of the dancers dip low to the ground and slink back up using the pole as a prop. They continue to dance in a synchronized fashion for about two minutes before the chorus kicks in for the second time. A spot light appears on the two dancers at the tips of the T stage. They have the spot light for about fifteen seconds in which they perform solo dances that showcase their favorite or best moves then it passes to the two dancers next on stage that has the spotlight for another fifteen. The people in front of the dancers tip generously throughout the solos which makes Allison grin because she knows this is a major act. Lydia takes in the entire spectacle with a titled head as though she was examining a math concept that she plans to comprehend simply by observing. Allison leans over to her and whispers after the second dance pair,

“You could totally do that… maybe even better.”

Lydia nods her head because she agrees with Allison but then suddenly the spotlights go to the fifth dancer that is at the front of the stage. Her head snaps up to Lydia as though she heard the challenge across the room as she begins to dance her solo to the rap part in the song. The dancer is tan from long hours spent in the sun with long curly jet black hair. She is wearing black lacy lingerie that reveals everything, including tattoo in black script on her ribs. Her solo incorporates a lot of pole work, dips, and hair flips and it is clear that she knows how to dance. The reason she is at the head of the stage is also obvious not only by her dance skills but the tips at her feet. Lydia’s gaze stays transfixed on her even after her solo ends and the lights return for the final chorus with all the dancers synchronized once more. After Muse ends, the lights of the club raise slightly as C’mon by Ke$ha starts playing. The dancers walk off the stage and up to individual tables for private dances. The previous performers appear onstage and walk around the general floor dancing for interested parties.

The dancer at the head of the stage walks off and heads straight towards Allison and Lydia’s table. Allison’s eyes widen in surprise as though she isn’t quite sure how to take in the scene in front of her as the dancer starts dancing in front of Lydia. Lydia’s head straights immediately as if she is surprised as well. A slight blush appears on her cheeks as the dancer steps in between Lydia’s legs. It takes a moment for Lydia come back to earth and regain her voice; she pulls out a ten dollar bill from her purse and offers it with her trademark smirk. The intimidation factor of her smirk is lessened greatly due to her blush.

“While you are a great dancer and totally deserve this tip, I’m not interested in a personal dance. Thanks anyway.”

The performer backs away from Lydia as she takes the offered bill. She winks at her as she starts to walk away, the smug smirk lingering on her lips.

“You’re loss sweet heart.”

Allison chuckles at the performer’s response as she also gives her a couple of ones. She gestures to Lydia with her head as she speaks and winks.

“No seriously, that was great. Thanks!”

The dancer moves on to the next table but Allison and Lydia remain at their table for a little while longer to watch the performers dance to Ke$ha as they look for private gigs. Once all the dancers seem to be at an interested party, Lydia begins to gather her things. Allison follows suit.

They leave the strip club wordlessly but the moment they hit the sidewalk, Allison sneaks her arm into Lydia and squeezes her forearm gently.

“So that was an experience!”

“It certainly was… Ready for some dinner?”

Allison chuckles at Lydia’s vague agreement with her statement and squeezes the part of Lydia’s forearm she is holding again. She nods her head.

“Yes! Oh can we check out the food truck area? Supposedly Portland has some of the best food trucks in the country! That totally counts as local, right?”

“I heard that too! That sounds good with me. Then we can sleep for the night in the car at the rest stop about thirty miles out of the city. There are so many things I want to do in Seattle tomorrow so I want to start the day early so we can get there early.”

“As long as the area isn’t shady, it sounds good to me.”

“If course it isn’t shady. It was highly recommended on trip advisor so I trust the four sources that mentioned it. Plus, worst case scenario you have a bow and I have your Chinese daggers. I am positive we could hold our own in anything.”

“True. Now onto the big question, what kind of food do we want to eat?”

Allison asks because the corner they round just before the block where they parked the car is filled with different food trucks. Each one is pretty packed since it is only 930pm on a Friday night in the middle of summer. Lydia looks at all the options in front of them and taps her free finger to her pursed lips.

“Do you want to get Mexican and I will get Thai, then we can split?”

“Throw in dessert and you have me sold.”

“As if that was even a question.”

And that is precisely what they did for food. After they finishing their dinner and dessert, they walk back to their car. Allison gets behind the wheel as Lydia programs the GPS to the rest stop. After driving for about half an hour they arrive at the rest stop that is a 24hr McDonalds/Gas station rest stop on the side of the highway. Allison unbuckles her seat belt and reclines her seat as far back as possible. Lydia does the same and fashions them both a pillow out of their jackets. Allison double checks all the locks on the doors then takes off her jeans and changes into her pajamas; she is so grateful that Lydia had convinced her earlier to wear spandex under her jeans for easy changing. When she looks over, Lydia is already closing her eyes on her pillow wearing her pajama clothes, her hair in a bun, and her makeup and jewelry removed. Allison shakes her head in bewilderment at her speed and efficiency as she removes her own earrings. She then lies down and burrows into her pillow before speaking softly to Lydia.

“Hey Lydia?”

“Yeah Allison?”

“Thanks for suggesting the strip club. It is something I never would have thought to do on my own and it was pretty fun. So yeah, thanks for that experience…”

Lydia opens her slightly eyes to look at Allison over the center console and smiles softly before nuzzling closer to her pillow and closing her eyes for sleep.

“You’re welcome. Good night best friend.”

“Good night bestie.”

 

[ ](https://roadtrippers.com/trips/52629ec2c2720c51c6001672)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, do you guys want chapter summaries? I realize I haven't been posting them. Are they useful? I will continue to not post them unless I hear otherwise!


	4. Uncharted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right on time this week! There is recreational drug use in this chapter at a place where smoking marijuana is legal but if you aren't about that feel free to skip the last fourth or so of the chapter until the last couple of paragraphs. 
> 
> Also, another longer than expected chapter... Hope you enjoy!

[](http://ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/post/74454575808/somewhere-along-the-way-a-teen-wolf-allydia-road)

A big yawn sneaks its way out of Allison before she even has a chance to attempt to stifle it. Her body’s exhaustion from their 6am wake up is finally starting to catch up with her. She lifts her hand from the map laid out on the shiny metallic diner table to cover the end of her yawn. Lydia looks up from her breakfast with a knowing look; she reaches across the table and takes Allison’s mug of coffee from where it was holding a corner of the map down on her side.

“It’s my turn to drive. It will take us about two hours to get to the Olympic Peninsula so you should have plenty of time to rest.”

“Fine. But I am not resting until I figure out the general route of our hike to the ocean. The peninsula is supposed to be an amazing place to go camping right along the water.”

Allison doesn’t remove her gaze from the map of trails in front of her, examining each pathway to the Atlantic for its overall length and changes in elevation. She absentmindedly reaches for the corner where her mug was. Her hand searches for the cup while Lydia stifles a laugh by biting her lip. Allison realizes that something is up so she looks up to where her mug should be before turning her gaze to Lydia who is holding both mugs-one in each hand. Lydia laughs at the look of betrayal that briefly comes over Allison’s face.

“Hey, where is my co- Lydia. Why do you have my coffee?”

“You don’t need it you are going to nap anyway!”

“You know one cup of coffee doesn’t keep me up-”

“Yeah but it does make the nightmares worse…”

Lydia says in a soft voice like she knows the topic is a difficult one to breach and must always be handled with gentle gloves. She sees the guilt of concerning others with personal problems flash in Allison’s eyes so Lydia continues speaking to prevent that guilt from spoiling their breakfast and the rest of their day.

“Plus, I need the extra caffeine. This place is so busy that our waitress still hasn’t returned with your side of bacon. It’s been almost fifteen minutes. I refuse to wait that long for a mediocre cup of coffee when I can just drink yours.”

Lydia takes a sip from both mugs as she gestures with her chin to the chaos in the diner. Allison looks around at the retro diner they chose to eat breakfast at in Seattle. The vinyl booths are packed with people, the counter has limited available seating space, and there are still people waiting at the door for an empty spot. She had tuned out the murmur of voices around them to focus on the task at hand and completely didn’t notice the increase in patrons. She spots their waitress heading towards them with a plate of bacon in hand. Both Lydia and Allison already ate the majority of their omelets but Allison loves to get bacon when she eats at diners and she knows Lydia will steal a piece or two. 

The waitress puts the bacon down on the table before resting her hands on her hips to catch her breath from running around due to the breakfast rush.

“Sorry about the delay with the bacon. It’s crazy here! Can I get you ladies anything else?”

“No thanks. Just the check please.”

Lydia says as she looks up at the waitress, already reaching towards Allison’s bacon. Allison swats Lydia’s hand away and the waitress raises an amused eyebrow before leaving to grab their check and take care of the other patrons.

“I ordered the bacon so I get first pick! Then you can have a piece.”

Lydia pulls her hand away and holds it close to her chest. She pouts and pretends to be hurt as Allison surveys the bacon to pick out the crispiest one. Allison shakes her head at Lydia’s shenanigans as she finds the perfect the piece. She takes a bite and smiles.

“Diners still make the best bacon of all time.”

“I’m glad. I was worried. Can I have some now?”

“I guess… Go for it.”

Lydia enjoys her own piece as Allison goes back to the map to finish outlining the route for the day on the map. The waitress drops off the check and Lydia immediately reaches for it.

“I will take of this while you go change in the bathroom. Don’t forget to put your bathing suit on in case we go swimming later! Let’s meet at the grocery store near the car so we can pick up some provisions for tonight. It’s not camping unless roasting marshmallows happens.”

Lydia starts gathering her back pack, and sunglasses from the booth as she stands up with the check in hand to pay at the front cash register. Allison tilts her head slightly as she glances at Lydia’s outfit, a loose white shirt with a knit back and burgundy shorts, that is different than the one she wore in the car. Lydia’s bathing suit can be seen through the gaps in the back of her shirt.

“Yes to marshmallows but when did you change? Are you really going to wear those shorts for our four miles hike today?”

“Change was the first thing I did when got here. And don’t worry; I still have my spandex on under my shorts but over my bathing suit and I will put on my sneakers later. So let’s go! Don’t forget to tip.”

Allison grabs her backpack and hat as she too gets up from the booth. She reaches into her pocket and puts a couple of ones on the table before heading back to the bathroom to freshen up and change before their next adventure.

  
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/24435646@N00/7587271400/in/photolist-cysKs9-cBAZm3-cB1A9A-cBABD5-cB1kJj-cysuDd-cx4BBA-cx4yJm-cBAkxS-cx4DYQ-cBB9Uw-cv7Hvq-cB1yx3-cx5QQQ-cv7DSU-cx4sfo-cB1wDU-cB1nN7-cBAxdm-cysBHf-cyspUU-cx4pvS-cBAVK3-cB1EGu-cx4j6h-cwKnns-cwPjEq-cwMXGA-cwPh2U-cwN51y-cwNiZ1-cwKkWA-cx4wGL-cx5xeQ-cx4G5m-cwKeUh-cwKE4u-cwMTZ3-cwNcuG-cwKcYW-cwPbKd-cwNoum-cwKNLU-cwPcVf-cwMBaJ-cwN7qw-cwNmnC-cwMZSJ-cwNeTb-cwKxg5-cwKb2o)

Four hours after finishing mapping their hiking route, Allison and Lydia stand on the beach glancing out across the vast horizon that is the Atlantic Ocean. Allison looks over at Lydia with a truly ecstatic smile on her face that Lydia returns without a second thought. The beach isn’t packed for almost one in the afternoon on a Saturday in the middle of July but there is still a great deal of people taking advantage of the 85 degree weather.

Allison unclips her back pack and throws it to the ground in a haste to rid herself of her sweaty hiking clothes. Lydia sees what Allison is doing and is quick to follow suit. It soon dissolves into a competition of who can undress to their bathing suit the fastest and get in the water first. Lydia pulls ahead of Allison because her sneakers are much easier to remove than Allison’s hiking boots. She leaves her clothes, bags, and shoes in a pile near Allison’s as she runs for the water in her retro two piece burgundy bathing suit, laughing at Allison’s grumbles about the impossible laces of hiking shoes.

The coldness of the water causes Lydia to freeze in her tracks when she is only up to her ankles in the ocean. She completely understands why most people are laying out and not in the water. Allison is close behind her in a black bikini and runs into the ocean up to her waist. A shiver runs through her body as she adjusts to the cold. She turns to see that Lydia has not moved from far from her spot ankle deep in the water. She watches Lydia cross her arms across her chest to keep from the shiver that runs through her due to the temperature shock. A wave washes over her feet, reaching her mid-calf and she glares at the wave as if she has been betrayed. Allison scoops up the water in her hand and heads towards Lydia with a mischievous grin on her face. Lydia’s head snaps up to Allison as she approaches and her eyes widen comically as she points at Allison.

“Don’t you even think about it! My body is just getting accumulated to the temperature and then I’ll go in full.”

“Lydia that’ll take ages though!”

“Don’t you dare!”

Allison fake pouts in response and drops the water back in the ocean. Lydia stops pointing, relaxes her shoulders, and puts her hand back across her chest as she inches into the water slightly more. Allison turns around to face the ocean to make it seem as though she is dropping the attack but then she spins around quickly and splashes Lydia. The water splashes across Lydia’s stomach and she lets out a high pitched squawk in surprise. Allison begins laughing hard at the noise that Lydia made. She doubles over slightly, gripping her stomach.

“What you little!”

“I didn’t agree to anything!”

Allison says as she looks back up at Lydia, raising her hands in a gesture of innocence. She sees her mischievous look reflected in Lydia’s face and looks down to Lydia’s hands where she is holding wet sand. Allison back peddles further into the ocean until the water level is at her belly button again as Lydia stalks closer with the wet sand. Allison exclaims as she shakes her head fast:

“Nooooo!”

Lydia catches up to Allison quickly and reaches to plop the wet sand down her back but Allison loses her footing in her back peddling. She starts falling backwards and reaches for Lydia’s arm, dragging her down too. Lydia squawks again at the realization that her plan has backfired and Allison laughs once more before going under water. When she resurfaces, Lydia splashes at her face and they both share a laugh.

“I knew my method was way faster.”

Lydia rolls her eyes at Allison’s comment and brings her hand forward from behind her back. Lydia holds another handful of wet sand which she plops on Allison’s chest between her boobs. She smears the sand back and forth a little to make sure it gets on and under Allison’s bathing suit top. Allison gasps in fake shock when Lydia steps back to admire her handy work, a smirk on her lips. Allison puts one leg behind Lydia and pushes her shoulders backwards so she trips into the water again. Lydia laughs as she tries to grab onto Allison’s shoulders to bring her down with her but the water has made her hands and Allison’s shoulders too slippery to grab onto. Lydia falls fully into the water while Allison laughs. Lydia comes back up and sets her feet firmly on the ground. She wipes the water out of her eyes and shakes her wet hair slightly. Allison raises an eyebrow as she offers her hand to Lydia.

“Truce?”

Lydia takes the offered hand and pulls Allison back into the water on top of her. When they both resurface, Lydia smiles over at Allison and nods her head.

“Now we are even.”

Allison laughs back at Lydia and splashes at her. Their little water fight had brought them further into the ocean so now the water is up to Lydia’s shoulders. Lydia turns back towards the shore and begins swimming towards it. Allison takes a moment to wash/wipe the sand out of her bathing suit top and fully soak her hair before she too heads for shore.  
Lydia walks towards the pile of their belongings, ringing the water out of her long curly hair. She sorts their clothes into one pile as she goes through her bag to grab their towels and snacks. She spreads out the towels so they can lie out and dry up. She makes sure to put a water bottle and a granola bar on each towel before she settles down onto her own towel. She slips on her sunglasses on and settles in for a much deserved nap after their almost three hour hike through the woods with back packs on as if they were pack mules. Lydia smiles at her pack mule joke just as Allison approaches their towels, collapsing on her towel next to Lydia. She sees the water and snack and reaches for both of them.

“Thanks for the nourishment Lydia.”

“Shhh…. It’s nap time.”

Allison huffs out a laugh as she closes her eyes. The idea of a little nap doesn’t sound so bad with the sun beating down on them, the ocean breeze rolling over them, and the sound of the waves crashes onto the sand as a lullaby.

“Sun block needs to be reapplied in an hour.”

Lydia mumbles with sleep already heavy in her voice. Allison nods her head and makes a grunt in agreement with Lydia before she too drifts off to sleep.

[ ](http://www.flickr.com/photos/a440/99477932/in/photostream/)

Lydia awakes from her nap two hours later to find the spot next to her completely empty of Allison or even the towel that was there. Lydia worries slightly as she opens her eyes to scan the area for Allison or a potential threat. She doesn’t see Allison but she notices their bags are fully repacked next to her. The worry turns to panic as she continues to look around for Allison. She finally spot Allison sitting on a huge rock near the trail they entered the beach from wearing her blue light button up shirt over her bathing suit; the map from breakfast is open on her lap and her face is deep in concentration. Relief crashes over Lydia once she realizes that Allison is close and safe.

Lydia stands up and walks towards where Allison is sitting. Once she starts walking, she realizes the temperature has dropped too much for her to just be walking around in her bathing suit. She crosses her arms in a pathetic attempt to arm her sides. Her shadow falls across Allison’s map which causes her to look up to see who has approached, she grins at Lydia.

“Rest well Sleeping Beauty?”

“Yes I did. Thanks for asking.  
So what are you thinking Smokey?”

Allison nods in approval of the nickname before looking back down on the map and points to it as she speaks.

“Well, right now we are about here and supposedly there are some areas for campfires down here that we can use to make dinner then we can come back up here and set up camp for the night.”

“That sounds good to me. Let me just put some clothes on then we can head out.”

Lydia returns to the pile of their bags with Allison following close behind her. Allison starts to shake the sand out of Lydia’s towel while Lydia puts her clothes back on, a chill still on her skin from the long hours spent in the sun. Lydia ties her hair up into a messy bun before accepting the folded towel from Allison to stuff back in her bag alongside the supplies for s’mores and her sleeping bag. Once she completes that task, she stands and shoulders the bag. She looks to see if Allison is ready to find that she too is wearing her backpack and holding her shoes in one hand.

“Lead the way Smokey!”

Allison fakes a salute at Lydia’s order before turning around and heading down the beach. They allow a comfortable silence to fall between them as they steadily trek through the sand, careful to avoid large branches and pieces of drift wood. The amount of people increases the further they walk which means another park must be in the vicinity where the campfire sites are supposed to be. They walk for another fifteen minutes before Allison notices smoke drifting upwards from further down the beach.

“I spy smoke! We’ve got to be close.”

“Good. I’m starving.”

They round a large piece of drift wood that is taller than Lydia to see a scattering of different campfire sites. Most have large groups of people gathered around them but there is a small circle of stones ahead near a large rock. Lydia points to it, speaking to Allison as they approach it.

“Looks perfect for us.”

“There is even a piece of driftwood we can use as a bench to look out at the ocean!  
Let’s start collecting dried pieces of drift wood to start a fire?”

Lydia nods her head in agreement as she drops her bag next to the little fire pit. She heads back towards the tree line picking up dry twigs, sticks, dry grass, and pieces of wood that look dry enough to burn. She fills her arms with all of these pieces and returns to the campfire site to see a pile next to Allison’s knees. Allison scoops sand out from inside the small circle of rocks to create more of a hole in the ground to start the fire. She concentrates very hard as she begins to pile the sticks in a tepee style. Lydia watches Allison work, leaning back with her arms crossed. Allison leans back once she has set the tepee up. She wipes her hands together before grabbing the lighter from her pocket.

“I’ve never made a fire before so here goes nothing?”

“Really? You haven’t? Here, let me help.”

Lydia says as she kneels down in the sand next to Allison. Lydia puts some of the thinner small sticks and bits of bark in the center of the tepee. She places dried grass on top of these small sticks and under them. She reaches into the front pocket of her back pack and rummages around for a mini can of hairspray. Allison’s eyebrows shoot up.

“What?”

“Do you think my hair naturally looks amazing every day? I have my tricks. Now stand back and be careful. I’ve only done this a couple of times.”

Allison stands up, gives the lighter to Lydia, and hides out from behind her. Lydia shakes the can and clicks down on the nozzle at the dried grass. She brings the lighter to the stream of product leaving the can which ignites the entire stream of gas. The dried grass and bark suddenly engulf in flames. Lydia releases the can so it stops spraying and stands up as well, wiping the sand from her knees. The smaller pieces of wood in the center of the tepee catch fire and the flames travel upwards, licking at the bigger sticks which begin to blacken. Lydia puts her hands on her hips as she watches the sticks slowly catch fire.

“That should do it.”

“Wow. That was amazing. For a second there I was worried you’d whip out a Molotov cocktail from your bag… but the hairspray was a nice touch.”

“I thought a Molotov cocktail was a little too volatile for our road trip adventure; next time though.”

“Definitely.”

Allison and Lydia exchange smiles before settling down to get everything ready for dinner. Lydia takes a package of four hot dogs from her bag as well as McDonald’s mustard and ketchup packets. Allison brings out metal skewers with plastic handles and napkins. She sees the McDonald’s condiments and gasps.

“That’s why you offered to go to McDonald’s for coffee! I thought something was up.”

“I did want coffee but I also wanted mustard for my hot dog. Voila-best of both worlds!”

Allison glares at Lydia without any heat behind her look at all. She walks over and sits next to Lydia on the piece of drift wood. They stab their hot dogs and slowly cook their dinner over the campfire, talking softly between them. Lydia begins to make extravagant back stories about the people around them and excuses for why they too are at Olympic Peninsula this evening. Allison laughs at the absurdity of Lydia’s stories and adds bits of her own details. They pass the next couple of hours like this, just sitting, talking, putting more wood on the fire when it needs it, and enjoying the nice evening and good company. The sun is low in the sky and almost setting on the ocean’s horizon when the smell of pot reaches Allison.

“Ugh, I haven’t smoked in ages. I almost forgot what it smelled like.”

Lydia tilts her head at Allison before the scent reaches her next. She sits up a little straighter.

“Um… I almost forgot that I bought a little treat after breakfast this morning.”

“What did you-”

Lydia reaches into the side pocket of her backpack while she speaks, searching for something. She pulls out a little metallic grinder and a couple of rolling papers. Allison stops asking her question once she sees what is in Lydia’s hands. Something dawns on Allison as she exclaims:

“That’s why you were late to meet up at the grocery store! You weren’t kidding when your excuse was ‘procuring drugs’!”

“Why would I lie about that? It’s legal here!”

Allison laughs as she bumps shoulders with Lydia, watching her take out a separate small zip lock bag of what Allison assumes is the purchased pot. Lydia takes a little clump out of the bag and puts it in the grinder. She twists the top and bottom of the grinder to break the pot into smaller pieces. She takes out a paper and lays it flat on her lap. She gestures to Allison with her chin to hold the paper down on her thigh while she empties the grinder contents onto it. Allison continues to watch; completely fascinated because she only smoked a couple of times in her life but it was always out of a bowl and never a joint. Lydia knows what she is doing when she licks the paper to roll the joint and twists the end. She holds up her finished product with a grin.

“Ta Da! I still got it.”

“How? Why? What?”

“Jackson and I used to smoke often before… you know.”

Allison nods her head, knowing the conversation is over and will not continue down that path. She fishes in her pocket for the lighter and pulls it out triumphantly. She clicks the lighter on and holds it out Lydia.

“You first.”

Lydia holds the joint to the flame and blows on the end of it lightly until it lights. Then she brings the twisted part of the joint to her lips and inhales deeply, letting the familiar slight burn fill her lungs. She exhales to the side as she passes the joint over to Allison.

“It should be good. Just take a deep breathe. It is only a little different than a pipe. It burns just a smidge, especially since we don’t have a filter.”

Allison takes it from Lydia’s hand and does as instructed. She breathes in a little too deeply and fast, coughing when the burn surprises her. Lydia pats her back gently until the coughing ceases then the patting becomes a gentle rub up and down Allison’s spine as she takes another hit; successful this time. The two of them smoke the entire joint, passing it back and forth to each other. Once the weed is fully smoked from the joint, Lydia throws the rest of it into the fire. Allison puts some more woods on the fire to keep it going while Lydia leaves the driftwood bench. She goes to her backpack to put her sweatshirt on. She returns to the drift wood and sits right next to Allison so their sides are lined up, sharing minimal body heat. Lydia takes the bag and grinder out again, preparing another joint.

“This one hasn’t even set in and you already want another one?”

“Not for now; for later. I want to have it already made so I don’t have to get everything out again.”

Lydia hums softly to herself as she grinds another clump of pot. She empties the grinder on the paper again and rolls up a smaller joint. She puts the assembled joint back into the zip lock bag of weed. She reaches back into the bottom of her bag and takes out a mason jar that has three cookies in it. She opens the lid and puts the grinder, papers, and remaining pot into the mason jar and seals the lid tight again. Allison watches the process with an accusatory eyebrow raised when Lydia notices the look she shrugs her shoulders.

“What? Why do you look so judge-y? It keeps the scent in and keeps it fresh for longer.”

“That is some of the most hipster shit I have ever seen.”

Allison’s eyes look up from the jar in Lydia’s hands to Lydia’s face. Both of their mouths are open and slack. A laugh bursts out of Lydia and Allison joins in; both of them double over on the drift wood laughing until they are breathless. With tears in the corner of her eyes, Lydia manages to stammer out:

“Hipster shit? It’s practical!”

“So? It’s still fucking hipster.”

Their laughter pauses for a moment and they share a knowing look, recognizing that they are both in fact high at that moment. They start laughing all over again. Allison sobers first from their latest laughing fit but can’t rid the huge grin that is on her face. The smile on Lydia’s face is pretty similar and doesn’t seem to diminish no matter how much effort Lydia puts into pouting; the corners of her mouth refuse to stay down and keep sliding back up into a smile.

“Allison, I can’t stop smiling!”

“Why would you want to?”

“Allison! I probably look creepy like a serial killer plotting their next murder!”

Allison turns towards Lydia and grabs her shoulders gently to have them face one another. Sure enough, Lydia is still smiling but giggling quietly at her attempt. Allison tries to make a serious face as she uses her fingers to pull the corners of Lydia’s mouth down. She removes her hands and watches as the corners of Lydia’s mouth pull back up into a smiling position. Allison crackles up and Lydia’s giggles become full laughs that shake her whole body. 

“Okay maybe you do look slightly serial killer-y…”

“Ughhh you hurt my feelings Allison! Roast me a s’more to make me feel better! ”

Lydia continues to giggle at Allison who pretends to be shocked.

“What! Screw you! I did no such thing. Make your own.”

Lydia pouts, batting her eyes ridiculously at Allison who is already starting to stand and gather the supplies for s’mores. Allison makes the best s’mores and always enjoys showing off her talents. Lydia watches with complete attention the process and demands many repeat performances, claiming that she missed a step. By the end of Allison’s demonstration, Lydia had eaten five s’mores while Allison only had two.

It is completely dark by the time the fire dies out and Lydia tosses sand on the embers just to be sure that the fire wouldn’t start again. Allison looks around at the people who set up camp on the beach shoulders her bag. Lydia takes out the small joint she had made earlier and does the same. As they start walking back in the direction they came, Lydia lights the joint and inhales deeply. While they walk, they pass the joint back and forth until it is finished; giggling randomly at pieces of drift wood that look like sleeping people and sleeping people that look like drift wood. They walk for about thirty minutes before Allison recognizes the path from earlier. There are not nearly as many people around which puts Allison more at ease. She opens her back pack and removes her thermal sleeping bag to open it on the sandy beach. Lydia opens her back pack and takes out her cotton sleeping bag and raises her eyebrow to Allison.

“Allison. I’m going to freeze in this thing. Can we just share? Please?”

Lydia sounds a little vulnerable like there is more bothering her than just the temperature but Allison knows she can’t push it. Lydia will bring it up with Allison on her own time. She puts on a show of pretending to think long and hard about it before she opens up one side of the bag and pats on it.

“Absolutely. Just open that one up and I’ll open this one up. It’ll be like a bed.”

Lydia brings their bags next to them before crawling onto the sleeping bag with Allison. There is enough space so they don’t have to be on top of each other but it is pretty hard to lie comfortably and not touch. Lydia’s side is pressed against tight against Allison’s when they finally settle into their spots. They both look up at the starry sky with content smiles, a peaceful silence falls between them for a little while before Lydia speaks up.

“It’s beautiful out here.”

“It really is.”

“The grinder and papers used to be Jackson’s.”

“Oh. Really?”

Allison tries not to sound too curious since this is the second time that Lydia has willing mentioned Jackson this evening. Lydia huffs out a sad little laugh before replying.

“Yeah. He gave them to me for our one year anniversary. That should have been a sign right there…”

“How could you have known? You were both, what? Freshmen? Everything is still so new then. I don’t think you could have known that he’d turn out to be such a douchebag just from that.”

“I just feel like I am really smart, you know? I should have noticed something… anything.”

“Sometimes when you think you are in love, you are willing to turn a blind eye to things and be pretty dumb just to keep them around.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Lydia goes quiet again while Allison racks her brain for something else to say to comfort her friend. Lydia turns on her side and rests her head on Allison’s chest so that when she breathes, the air tickles Allison’s neck. She whispers softly into Allison’s shirt.

“Jackson came back to Beacon Hills. He came to see me on Wednesday. It was the first thing he did. You know what he wanted to do? He wanted to apologize to me. How fucking dare he! After he just left out of the blue after I told him I loved him. Who the fuck does he think he is that he can just saunter back into Beacon Hills and talk to me after everything that has happened, after everything that he has done! I just want to hate him Allison but I can’t. I’m so sick of him and us and feeling sorry about it. I’m just done with that chapter of my life and I’ve started a new one.”

Silent tears fall from Lydia’s face onto Allison’s chest and sometime during her speech, Allison’s hand had begun to rub soothing reassuring circles into Lydia’s spine. Allison’s mind already connecting the dots about their early escape with Jackson’s little visit. 

“You don’t have to take him back Lydia. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Don’t let him or anyone else try to convince you otherwise. You control your own destiny.”

“There is no such thing as destiny Allison...”

“There is no such thing as banshees and werewolves.”

Lydia huffs out a laugh at Allison’s response as she burrows into her shoulder a little deeper, curling her arm around Allison’s waist. She looks up towards Allison’s face that glances down to and they share a small smile. Allison gives Lydia’s hand around her waist a reassuring squeeze.

“Thanks best friend.”

“Anytime bestie.”

They fall asleep just like that with Lydia curled into Allison's side; they sleep soundly throughout the night with the stars overhead, the sounds of the ocean surrounding them, and the warm comfort of each other.

  
[ ](https://roadtrippers.com/trips/escape-plan/52629ec2c2720c51c6001672)  



	5. Here's to Never Growing Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so super sorry for the longgg delay in updating! Transitioning back to college has been crazy busy/stressful and I just haven't had a spare moment to write much.
> 
> I really do hope to start updating every other week on Sundays now but I wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible cause I've been stupid late in posting.
> 
> ALSO - I have really been appreciating the kudos that people have been leaving and that people still read this story even though I hadn't updated it in months. It is honestly what helped me set aside time to work on this story. I truly appreciate it.
> 
> Once again, this is unbeta-ed. I am not an English major (rather Engineering L O L) so I know my writing isn't amazing but I hope you enjoy the story just the same!

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com)

Allison spends the better part of the morning drifting in and out of sleep as the sun slowly begins to rise over the horizon. When the brightness becomes too much for her to ignore, she finally allows herself to wake up completely. She slowly opens her eyes to world around her and is taken back by just how beautiful the peninsula is in morning light. To her, everything looks peaceful, calm, and pure. She thinks about how refreshing it would be to leave everything behind in Beacon Hills and start over with nothing on the peninsula.

A grumble snaps Allison out of her reverie and she snaps her eyes to the source of the sound-Lydia is currently trying (and failing) to pull the sleeping bag up and over her eyes to block out the morning light. Instead she burrows deeper into the sleeping bag and against Allison in an attempt to avoid the light. Allison smiles to herself at Lydia’s attempt as she leans over to grab her water bottle and check her watch for the time. She sits up, taking big sips of her water to rid the dryness that clings to her throat from smoking last night; she pats Lydia’s side.

“Rise and shine, Lydia!”

Lydia grumbles in response and makes no moves towards getting up.

“Come on Lydia! Time to get up! It’s almost 8am.”

Lydia doesn’t respond to Allison but instead, she curls deeper into herself.

“Plus, I think I have your hair in my mouth. Get up now!”

That coerces a response from Lydia; she mumbles through the sleeping back to Allison. Her voice raspy from sleep and last night’s smoke.

“Sounds like a personal problem.”

Allison scoffs as if she is offended but she knows Lydia is kidding-she can practically hear the slight smile in Lydia’s voice. She playfully shoves Lydia away from her.

“Rude! It’s definitely not my problem that your hair is so ridiculously long and luscious that it sheds everywhere and got into my mouth! Come on. You know we have a long couple of day ahead of us.”

Lydia smiles to herself as Allison rises from their makeshift bed, stretching out her muscles that are sore from sleeping on the sand, then she starts rummaging in their bags for breakfast. Lydia slowly uprights herself to a seated position on the sleeping bags. She stretches her arms high over her head as she closes her eyes and yawns big. When she opens them, Allison is seated beside her with a water bottle and half a granola bar. Lydia takes the water first and drinks half of the bottle in one go. Once she finally lowers the bottle from her lips, she grins at Allison.

“You always know exactly what I want.”

“Well you learn the signs over the years. You’ve always been pretty vocal about what you want…”

Allison remarks to Lydia with no heat in her words, just a playful teasing grin on her lips. She winks at Lydia, causing both of them to chuckle. After Lydia’s laughter dies down, she happily munches on her half of the granola bar while Allison folds up the top sleeping bag and stows it away. Lydia does her part and rolls up the bottom sleeping bag when she finishes her snack then she packs her bag up to leave. She turns to Allison, shouldering her backpack with her shoes in hand. Allison smiles easily at her,

“You good?”

It’s unspoken between the two of them that that question is an indicator; an opening to an all ears, no judgement, conversation about their feelings. Lydia knows that Allison doesn’t simply mean is she good for: food, water, sleep, to leave the peninsula, or to travel. She also means is she okay about last night, about the conversation, about the cuddling. It’s a covert way to ask a dozen questions, some of which may be sore subjects, in one simple go. They never explained its use or its meaning to one another but they began asking it when the nightmares started months ago. They just knew what it meant; what it entailed; what was really being asked. 

“Absolutely. Let’s go.”

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com)

The first time it happens after that night on the peninsula, it is a complete coincidence. Allison and Lydia stop at the first highway motel they see along their route in Montana. They are both exhausted after driving for ten hours even though it’s only 9pm and the sun is just starting to set. The motel they arrive at is almost full and only has rooms with a single queen or king bed available. Lydia doesn’t think twice before booking a single queen bedroom for the two of them, like that was the plan the entire time. Allison doesn’t bat an eye at the sight of a single bed when she opens the door to their room either.

The second time they stop at a highway motel is two days later in Wisconsin because 'good hygiene is important, Allison'. Lydia requests a room with a single queen bed without even checking room availability first. Allison raises her eyebrow at Lydia when the clerk leaves to grab their room’s key. Lydia shrugs nonchalantly,

“What? It saves us about twenty dollars a night this way. Unless you have a problem with the fact that I sprawl in my sleep which sometimes leads to cuddling...”

Allison scoffs lightly at that and rolls her eyes.

“I bet few would guess that when you sleep you are the epitome of a teddy bear. But that’s not what I have a problem with... It’s the gross drooling that I can’t stand.”

Lydia turns to face Allison fully in disbelief; genuine upset is written all over her face. Allison crosses her arms over her chest and levels Lydia with a serious face.

“What?! I do not drool excessively in my sleep! My salivary glands function just as well as the next person!”

Lydia punctures the air in front of Allison with her pointed index finger on her last statement which is the exact time the clerk reappears with their keys which causes Allison to smile smugly. He clears his throat awkwardly before sliding the keys over the counter to Lydia; he appears a little disgusted about the notion of sleep drool which explains his stammer when he asks them if they need anything else. Lydia turns sharply towards him, her face is flushed in embarrassment as she grabs the key off the counter. Allison can’t hear Lydia’s response over her own laughter at Lydia’s fluster and pink tipped ears.

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com)

Lydia calculates just how much they have to drive and sleep each day to be able to make it to Michigan by Thursday in a functioning state. They have forty hours of driving to do over four days which means they drive ten hours each day, sleep for eight hours a night, and they have six hours left “for activities”.

So far their “activities” comprise of a dozen or so of the cheesiest tourist attractions one can imagine. They don’t just see the beautiful and diverse landscapes of mountains, rivers, plains, and farmlands that the Midwest has to offer. They see eleven different statues: Our Lady of the Rockies, Salem Sue. Turkey Tom, World’s Largest Buffalo Statue, World’s Largest Sand Hill Crane Statue, Paul Bunyan Statue, Pink Elephant statue, three statue scenes at the Enchanted Highway, and the Chicago Bean (even though Lydia protests its validity since it is considered a public art sculpture- ‘what is the difference Lydia? aren’t statues public and art?’).

They both agree that if the buffalo, turkey and cow statue were real animals, American’s hunger issue would be solved for the next thirty five years. Even though Lydia argues that they would need more than just three gigantic sources of protein to solve the whole issue. The sight of Our Lady of the Rockies takes both of their breathes away when the sun sets just behind its head, making the mountains look golden under the light. Lydia thinks that Paul Bunyan resembles Derek while Allison refuses to see any similarities in their looks except for the dark beard. Allison loves Pink Elephant because of its ostentatious color and odd eye glasses while Lydia thinks it is tacky. But as they leave Chicago to continue onwards to Michigan and the Great Lakes they both agree that the Midwest has a slight Napolean complex if the number of statues they visited equipped with the ranking of “world’s largest” is anything to measure it by.

This leg of the trip is not all easy traveling and high spirits for them either. These four days of being cramped in a car put a slight strain on their moods as a certain restlessness settles into their bones. It puts them both on edge, making them a little temperamental. It causes annoyances to become petty arguments which escalate to full blown arguments and frustrated tears. They mostly fight over little things like whose turn it is to pay for gas or food, where they should stay for the night, and if the car is the right temperature. The fights usually blow over usually within a couple of hours once they take a deep breathe and talk through the issue, offering solutions or compromises like making a list of who paid last and opening the sunroof instead of constantly opening and closing the windows. None of it ever completely dispels the restlessness but it does make it a little easier to handle, sets things into perspective, makes them feel as young and foolish as their years suggest.

[ ](http://melbopo.tumblr.com/)

Once Gym Class Heroes’ song, _Ass Back Home_ , stops playing Lydia realizes she had been tapping her highlighter against her textbook to the beat without a conscious effort. Now that she thinks about it, even though they are only a couple of songs into [Allison’s “road trip beats”](http://8tracks.com/melbopo/somewhere-along-the-way-pt-2-an-allydia-fanmix) (her words-not Lydia’s) they all have been catchy or familiar. Lydia recognized some of them from hit radio stations and others were popular in past years. She teased Allison when first putting her almost eight hour playlist on, but so far Lydia hasn’t hated it. She might actually like its mix of popular songs from over the years. Plus it was keeping Allison awake, focused, and happy. She had sung, hummed or drummed the beat of every song that had played so far.

Lydia pushes a silly thought out of her head, justifying that Allison made this playlist so obviously she would know the words to all of the songs. The current tune playing is unfamiliar to Lydia but she has a feeling she’ll know the chorus. Just like each previous song on this playlist, Allison bobs her head and drums her thumbs against the steering wheel to the music. When Allison starts singing softly along, the words _“bare necessities”_ filters to Lydia’s ears and she finally registers the song playing. Her mouth drops open in surprise as she rests her textbook closed on her lap. She turns to gape at her best friend, her previous thought slips out of her mouth:

“Oh my god. You **are** a real life Disney princess!”

Allison stops singing as she glances over at Lydia; her eyebrows are drawn together in slight confusion at Lydia’s outburst.

“What? How?”

“Your love for a catchy beat! Your natural desires to sing along to everything! Disney princesses and the Wildcats are the only two people with an unusual urge to sing at all times. And last time I checked red, white, and black were not our school colors. God, I bet you even have your own theme song you sing mentally while out on hunts.”

“You’re right. My head is too much in the game to be a Wildcat. But that doesn’t automatically make me a princess!  
You don’t have theme song? I call bullshit. You play _Maneater_ every time you get ready for a date!”

“Not every time… and that’s just my ultimate pump up song for the preparation to break hearts and take names. Completely different. Wait! It even explains your skin! Only a Disney princess would have skin as flawless as yours.”

Allison laughs loudly, drowning out _Bare Necessities_ , which is still playing in the background. This topic is one they have had countless times throughout their friendship. She smirks at Lydia.

“Fine. I concede to that. Which princess am I?”

“Hmmm… I know Stiles sometimes calls you Princess Katniss but she is not a princess and I know you favor your Chinese daggers over your bow any day. So I think you have the skin of Snow White but the moral compass of Pocahontas coupled with the fierce determination and weaponry of Mulan.”

“Well I’m flattered. Snow white is ehhh but Mulan and Pocahontas are totally bad ass. I’ll take it. Ummm… I think you have the intelligence and drive of Jane from Tarzan and Jasmine’s take no bullshit attitude, with a combination of Meredith and Ariel’s hair for color and shape but Rapunzel’s for length.”

“That’s an exaggeration. My hair is not that long. I’m also surprised you didn’t say Kuzko’s …”

“Have you seen your hair lately? When was the last time you cut it? It is so long it fully covers your chest!  
Also I would have said Kuzko but I didn’t want to inflate your ego more than it already is. I didn’t want it to go to your head.”

“It can’t go to my head if it’s true Allison.”

Lydia remarks raising her eyebrows at Allison and giving her the trademark “you know I am right” face. Allison and Lydia start cracking up together. Allison is the first to recover; she remarks with a joking voice.

“Sure… Okay Yzma.”

“Does that make you Kronk?”

“Obviously. We’d still be best friends, just villain best friends.”

“Well I’m glad I can count on you.”

“You can. You always can.”

Allison adds with a fondness in her voice and a genuine smile on her lips, completely serious with her remark. She glances over to Lydia, who turned to face forwards towards the road during their banter. Her eyes look wide like she is gazing far in the distance. She slowly as she returns her focus the dashboard of the car. She turns her head to Allison and smiles sweetly back.

“I know.”

Allison and Lydia both settle into their seats after that. As if that admittance on the strength of their friendship dissolved some tension they hadn’t acknowledged lingering in the car from the other night. Silence falls on them as they listen to Allison’s next song playing. Allison wastes no time as she begins to hum along to the catchy beat while opening up the car’s windows. Lydia finds herself grinning when Allison starts to belt out the chorus of _The Best Song Ever_ and Lydia just can’t help herself, she sings loudly with her. She puts her hand out her window as Allison raises the volume. They both dance in their seats and sing along on the top of their lungs. Lydia feels not a single care for how ridiculous she looks because she is with her best friend and that is just what best friends do. They bring out the weird in each other. When the song ends, Lydia and Allison exchange matching gleeful smiles. Lydia relaxes into her seat, feeling more at ease than she can ever remember and she knows it’s all because of Allison.

[ ](https://roadtrippers.com/trips/escape-plan/52629ec2c2720c51c6001672)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me! I plan on seeing this story to the end and hope you do too!


	6. Step Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am the worst with updates. Thank you to every single person that has been patient with me while I muddle through writing my first fanfiction story. The kudos and comments are really what propel me to keep writing this story even though I hate my writing style. (You get better with practice, right?)
> 
> There is underage drinking in this chapter with more of a slow build...

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/tagged/SAtW)

The navy, white, and gold banners of University of Michigan are a stark contrast to the gray clouds that loom over head as Lydia and Allison finally reach their destination. Lydia’s weather app claims that it shouldn’t rain until six so they have just enough time to take a tour of the campus before the downpour. While neither of them are actually invested in becoming part of the legendary Big Blue alumni, Lydia once mentioned that it was her sister’s dream school so Allison added it to their college road trip without a second thought.

Even with dark stormy clouds above, Ann Harbor is full of life with vibrant colors and a special kind of beauty that helps Lydia to understand her sister’s admiration. She gets a little teary eyed as they walk towards admissions because she can see her sister fitting in well on campus. Allison reaches over to grab Lydia’s hand; she squeezes it gently to anchor her to the moment, to the now, to remind her that she isn’t making this journey alone. Lydia smiles softly back at Allison before shaking off the weight of old memories. Allison speaks up first,

“Let’s see if their physics facilities and engineering labs are even worth your time.”

“Or if the law library where you plan to waste most of your early twenties is nearly as impressive in person as people claim it to be.”

“Oh how I refuse to waste away in a place that is anything less than architecturally stunning.”

“Right? Always have high standards.”

“You know I do.”

Allison adds with a wink and just like that, with their usual banter, Lydia is back to the opinionated and strong woman that people are familiar with interacting with in day to day settings.

[ ](https://flic.kr/p/8jaVJX)

After their tour, Allison and Lydia drive to a motel they passed on their way into Ann Arbor that advertised a weekday special. Lydia can't hold back a small smile when she hears Allison ask the clerk for a single queen bed. Allison spots it immediately and raises her eyebrow, asking a silent "what?" to which Lydia shrugs in response. The clerk returns with a key to their room before Allison can further interrogate her.

The moment the clerk leaves them alone to their room, Lydia races Allison to the bathroom. It has been over four hours since their last rest stop, so both of them are a little desperate for relief. Allison pouts at the closed door in defeat before collapsing onto the bed to wait her turn; her eyes become heavy and she finds herself stifling a yawn when Lydia exits the bathroom. Allison's stomach grumbles loudly as she starts to remove herself from the comfortable bed. She smiles sheepishly at Lydia, whom simply raises an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Hungry?"

"Well now that you mentioned it. I could go for a snack or a feast... whichever we find first."

"I could feast too right about now. What are you in the mood for?"

"Wings! Definitely wings.”

"Well you are in luck, we happen to be in a huge college town so there is bound to be a wings place near by to satisfy all the drunk cravings."

"If not, we have to completely reconsider our view of this place."

"Absolutely, Princess. Hurry and go to the bathroom! I’ll google for some decent places in the area."

Once they are ready to venture out, it is about 7:30 pm and pouring buckets. They decide to drive to a sports restaurant and bar that is a little far but has a pretty cheap menu with good ratings. When they arrive, it is obvious that their genius idea is a popular one because the restaurant is packed with families, couples, and everything in between. The frazzled hostess asks if they are there to watch the big rival baseball game for which they would have to wait for a table or if they want to eat now, they can sit at the last table that doesn’t have any good views of a television. Allison shrugs at the same time Lydia does which is how they find themselves at a small table near an empty bar that is filling up steadily.

By the time Lydia and Allison have finished their three pounds of wings, a small army, encompassed mainly of UMich baseball players, has gathered around the bar drinking beer and enthralled in the game on the half of a dozen televisions that line the bar. Lydia and Allison glance their way a couple times but when one of the boys with a backwards snap back, smooth dark skin, and sparkling mischievous eyes winks at Lydia, she simply rolls her eyes and turns her attention back to Allison to continue their discussion of their earlier tour.

"While the law library was beautiful, the campus just didn't speak to me. You know? Everyone says that when you step foot on a college campus it should just feel right; it should feel like home. I didn’t get that vibe. What about you?"

"Hmmm... I agree. I think the classes would be too big for me. I need a lot of one on one attention. Plus, the material covered their second year of physics is what I learned last summer. I don't think the program would be challenging enough for me."

Allison nods along to what Lydia is saying, completely understanding her need to be in a rigorous academic environment. Both of them fail to notice the third party listening in on their conversation, a guy, wearing a UMich baseball tshirt with a backwards snap back that reads 'MICHIGAN', from earlier that had winked at Lydia from across the room. He makes a wounded noise and clutches at his heart which averts their attention to him. Even with a childish pout on his face, up close it is hard to deny his attractiveness. Lydia raises an eyebrow in her standard judgmental face,

"Can I help you?"

"Well… first I was going to ask if I could buy you a drink but now I feel like I need to defend the honor of my school and department!"

"You are a physics major?" 

Lydia asks without missing a beat; her eyebrows changing slightly from judgemental to curious. 

"Um not technically, I am a mechanical engineer but I suffered through plenty of physics classes through the first two years of my death march. These courses are way harder than whatever you've done in your classes, sweetheart."

"Dont call me sweetheart."

Allison chuckles quietly to herself but the guy seems hardly phased. He bats his eyes at Lydia with a small smile that reminds her of the few private smiles Boyd used to share.

"Then what should I call you?"

"I'm Allison and this is Lydia. We just visited UMich today."

"Oh are you thinking of transferring? I’m Zac by the way."

Allison speaks up quickly, 

"Yes! From UC San Diego."

"Oh cool! Cali’s cool. If you are looking for a challenge, UMich is the place!"

Lydia's eyes hone in on him, her smile becomes slightly predatory like a lioness stalking its latest prey.

"Really Zac? What was the most challenging topic you covered your freshman year?"

"Well Lydia. It has to be a combination of thermodynamics as a whole, Navier Stokes equation, and harmonic oscillators."

Allison gets up from the table and gestures towards the bathroom to Lydia before waving and heading in that direction.

"So you had a difficult time with derivatives and making assumptions?"

"Hey now thermo is way more than assumptions! But-"

"But-but… since you are defending your school's honor, where’s my drink?"

Allison shakes her head to herself as she hears Zac agree to get a passion fruit mojito before he can continue his rebuttal. Even though Allison can't see her, she knows Lydia sports a triumphant grin on her face because she has found a new toy.

When Allison is returning from the bathroom, she misses an “exciting” play in the baseball game but the next thing she knows she is surrounded by cheering fans. The loud noises and foreign faces disorients her slightly, so when a hand brushes her arm like it is going to grab her, she doesn't hesitate in spinning to turn and grab the stranger's hand and kick her legs out to cause the potential attacker to fall to the ground. She means to run away but she remembers that she in a crowded place where those sort of accidental brushes tend to happen. She immediately feels guilt rush through her, flushing her cheeks pink when she peers down to see an extremely baffled guy with dark brown hair and light blue eyes looking back up at her.

"Holy shit. What just happened?"

"The crowd became overzealous and knocked you over?"

"I know I’ve had a couple of beers but not enough to make a 250 pound guy tople..."

Allison smiles innocently sweet as she offers her hand to help him up.

"I may have thought you were trying to steal my wallet so I could have had a hand in the toppling..."

He smiles warmly back at her as he takes her hand and lets himself be pulled up.

"Well fuck. That is kinda awesome... in a scary way. Any girl that can trip a starting college pitcher deserves a drink..."

"I am not sure..." 

Allison says as she looks over to Lydia for some sort of sign but all Allison sees is Lydia calmly drinking while Zac leans over the table, sitting in Allison’s vacated seat, talking vehemently about something with big hand gestures. The baseball pitcher follows Allisons gaze before repeating his offer.

"Please let me buy you a drink. Your friend doesn't look ready to leave just yet... Zac seems to be amusing her just fine. Please?"

"Fine. One drink!"

Allison forgets about time as she enjoys her pint of Blue Moon and learns about Mark, the business major from a small town in New Hampshire that wanted to reinvent himself at a big university. Allison does that too for the moment: she creates a new person for herself. She turns herself into someone that doesn't know the supernatural, hasn't seen death first hand, nor has caused it. It is freeing for the moment to lose the weight of the nightmares she carries and to just be a carefree high school girl that flirts shamelessly and laughs often. As she leans in to kiss Mark, she realizes this type of normalcy is nice, makes her feel safe. Mark and Allison pull apart quickly from their kiss when a cough startles them. Allison’s expression goes from surprised to grinning when she realizes it’s Lydia.

"Hey Lydia! Mark, this is my best friend Lydia. Lydia, this is Mark! He is the starting pitcher for UMich."

"Nice to meet you Lydia. Allison told me about your cross country road trip. It sounds awesome!"

"Thanks. Pleasure is all mine, Mark. Wanna go Allison? It's almost eleven and I want to head to bed soon."

"Oh don’t worry Lydia. She can stay with me a little longer if she wants and I can drop her off wherever you guys are staying..."

Allison raises her eyebrow at Mark, shaking her head slightly, and she speaks as she stands up from her bar stool.

"Thanks but no thanks Mark. We have to be on the road early tomorrow morning but it was nice meeting you."

Allison kisses Mark on the cheek as she prepares to go, she catches Lydia rolling her eyes at the gesture. Mark puts a piece of paper in Allison’s hand with a wink as she leaves.

"It was nice meeting you too, Allison. Call me if you are ever back in the area."

Allison’s smile hasn’t left her lips as she drives back to the motel, still riding the slight buzz from her beer plus the successful evening. After driving for a couple of minutes, she feels a wall of tension that has formed in the car between her and Lydia. Now that she thinks about it, Lydia hasn’t spoken a single word since they left the restaurant but silence often falls between them. Sometimes they don’t feel the need to fill the time or space with empty conversations, happier to sit in comfortable silence. But that kind of silence feels different than the one they are in now, this silence feels forced which sets Allison slightly on edge. 

“That was a nice change! I had fun.”

“Well I guess if you consider hanging out with college guys for free drinks fun…”

Lydia’s voice is clipped which causes Allison’s eyebrows to draw forward in confusion, she tries to muffle the annoyed tone in her response to avoid becoming unnecessarily angry at Lydia.

“I didn’t see you complaining.”

“That’s because I didn’t compromise my morals.”

Lydia says as she crosses her arms over her chest; her voice calm and steady. Allison tilts her head slightly in confusion while keeping her eyes on the road, she pauses, clearly at a loss for words at that statement, before answering in a confused tone.

“I didn’t either?”

“So you actually wanted to kiss that Mark guy? Not because he bought you a drink?”

Allison can practically hear the judgement seeping in Lydia’s voice but there is something else there that Allison can’t quite identify. Lydia’s words strike a chord with Allison because never has she judged Lydia for her sexual conquests and activities over the years. The longer their argument drags on, the angrier Allison becomes; her words become louder and harsher as Lydia’s become more flippant.

“Yeah, maybe I did! What does it matter?”

“You can do better than him.”

“What does that even mean? Did any of those guys meet your ‘standards’?”

“No. They were the epitome of a college jock whose only goal is to get in any pretty girl’s pants. It’s just a game to them!”

“That makes no sense. You sleep with guys like that all the time Lydia!”

“That’s different. You aren’t a one night stand kind of girl Allison! So have some standards before you get attached-”

“I could have a one night stand if I wanted!”

“But you aren’t that kind of girl... That isn’t who you are. You should have high standards and live by them!”

“You are being ridiculous. Maybe he did meet my standards.”

Lydia unfolds her arms to toy with the bottom of her shirt, a childish habit that tends to appear when she is rethinking her argument. Allison catches the movement out of the corner of her eye, expecting an apology to tumble from Lydia’s lips at the sheer absurdity of this conversation. Instead, cold words spill from Lydia’s lips while she continues to stare at the road ahead. 

“Then maybe you should call him then. Share a bed with him tonight.”

Allison looks over at Lydia in shock and lets a small aggravated sigh fall from her mouth before returning her eyes to the road.

“Maybe I will! I can do whatever I want Lydia, you don’t get to choose who I do or don’t sleep with.”

Lydia turns to Allison sharply with concern etched on her face. Allison glances at Lydia while she drives, her hands grip the steering wheel tightly as Lydia speaks.

“I’m just trying to save you from… from some asshole breaking your heart.”

“Perhaps I want that! Who are you to decide that for me?”

“Just because Scott is talking about a long distance relationship with Kira for college and Isaac didn’t work out the way you wanted doesn’t mean you should throw yourself at any guy that gives you the time of day-”

“Lydia! I am not doing that! God. Why are you suddenly trying to control this?”

Allison’s knuckles turn white as she grips the wheel tighter in annoyance.

“I’m not being controlling... I care and just want the best for you!”

“That’s the whole problem! You aren’t doing that, you are making me feel like shit. God, I bet that is why all your relationships have failed! You are such a control freak; you freak when things don’t go your way. Welcome to the real world Lydia! Not everything can go your way! It’s messy out there… sometimes people hurt you and sometimes you get your heart broken. But you can’t control people to prevent that mess from happening. You can’t control me!”

Lydia falls silent while Allison speaks, her eyes wide and out of focus as if she is only engaging in her sense of hearing. Allison notices out of the corner of her eye that Lydia flinches each time Allison says “freak”, a sick sense of pride runs through her at the thought of knocking Lydia down emotionally to her level. Allison punctuates her last sentence with a hard break into their parking spot at the motel. She parks the car and hastily undoes her seat belt with anger still fueling her actions. Lydia takes her time getting out of the car, her eyes blinking slowly until they are in focus, her face carefully blank. They don’t speak to each other as they prepare for bed, both parties move with their head looking towards the ground as if in deep thought or to avoid eye contact.

While Lydia is in the bathroom, Allison takes a pillow from the bed and a spare blanket from the closet, setting up a bed on the floor. She fall asleep almost immediately, her anger from their fight combined with the long day of traveling drained her energy more than she realized. When Lydia exits the bathroom, she pauses when she sees Allison on the floor but doesn’t say anything about the unnecessariness of Allison’s sleeping arrangements. Lydia crawls into the queen bed by herself and stares at the ceiling until a restless sleep overtakes her.

  
[ ](https://roadtrippers.com/trips/escape-plan/52629ec2c2720c51c6001672)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6/7 - Update - I guess I should clarify an assumption I made. I assumed that the girl that died in the car crash that Sheriff Stillinski talked about (the girl told him to go to his wife because she is dying) is Lydia's sister whom died her senior year of high school.


	7. You and I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings or anything! this is probably one of my shortest chapters in ages and yet took me sooo long to write. I just wanted to do it justice. Ja feel? xoxo enjoy

[ ](www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/tagged/allydia)

Allison isn't sleeping, merely pretending, as she leans against the window of the car. Her body feels exhausted from sleeping poorly last night but her mind refuses to stop racing for even a second. Dozens of thoughts flicker in her mind about the fight last night, about their friendship, about Beacon Hills, and everything inbetween. Her mind keeps replaying the fight over and over again, Lydia’s judgement, when Lydia flinched, and no matter what else Allison tries to think of, her thoughts always return to their stupid stupid fight. She refuses to dwell upon it for too long, always trying to distract herself with another thought, a different memory, anything that isn’t Lydia’s carefully blank face. They are driving through a tunnel when Allison finally allows herself to open her eyes and peak at the clock on the dashboard, a bleary 2:30pm blinks back at her in the darkness of the tunnel. She groans internally in pure frustration at how slow time is moving.

2:30pm - that means they have been on the road for almost seven hours, a blessing and a curse. Blessing because that means their final destination of Niagara Falls must be near. Curse because that means they have not muttered a single word for the past sixteen hours. Even with Welcome to Nightvale playing from the car’s speakers in a useless attempt to hide the dreary silence, the lack of exchanged words is suffocating. Allison shifts in her seat in an attempt that being physically comfortable will ease the uncomfortable feeling the silence has created in her stomach. Even after sixteen hours, the silence has not become familiar. It seems to worsen as time drags on, leaving Allison feeling almost nauseous with unease.

Still Allison remains silent, treating it like a game that she is determined to win. She lets the uncomfortable feeling of wrong wash over her until it has sunken into her bones and solidified her joints with the belief of being right. She refuses to let Lydia win, to play her game, to apologize simply to end the silence when she knows she is not at fault. Well not completely at fault. Allison knows first hand how frequently Lydia gets her way, how often she ignores someone instead of admitting her wrongs. Allison refuses to crumble, she refuses to lose to Lydia.

Allison is so lost in her own mind that she doesn’t register that the car has stopped moving until she hears the engine cut out. She raises her head in confusion to take in their surroundings as Lydia unbuckles and removes herself from the car. They have finally reached their destination: Niagara Falls, specifically a parking lot labeled “For Those Touring Niagara Falls”. She scrambles to unbuckle her seat belt, so she can leave the suffocating silence of the car and stretch her legs for the first time in hours. When she finally manages to remove herself, two things surprise her: Niagara Falls is practically deafening compared to the environment of the car and Lydia is waiting for her, not making eye contact, but still waiting for her none the less.

Annoyance flashes through Allison at Lydia’s still passive behavior and she bites on her tongue to refrain from commenting on it, reminding herself that she refuses to break the silence first. As  
Allison approaches Lydia, Lydia turns to lead them down the stairs to the bridge that has the iconic view of the falls. Allison shakes head at the notion that only Lydia would manage to run the show without making eye contact or speaking and she cracks a small fond smile at that before setting her face to carefully neutral when she reminds herself that they are still fighting and she is still angry.

Lydia finally stops on the path that is near the base of the waterfall, turning to face the beautiful waterfall that is the largest in North America. Allison stops right next to her and follows her gaze to the amazing landscape right in front of them. She leans her arms onto the railing, not caring that the mist from the waterfall is landing right on her. She closes her eyes and breathes in deeply to just take in the moment. She feels a lump forming in her throat as memories of her parents arguing over who told the story better of the time they almost losing their family wedding bands when they renewed their vows at Niagara Falls flash behind her closed eyes. Suddenly, the loss of her mother hits her harder than it has in months and she grips the railings tight, trying to steal her emotions back to safe thoughts. 

She is surprised when she feels a hand on hers, she looks down to see Lydia’s hand on hers-rubbing circles into the back of her hand just like they do on each other’s back when the nightmares feel the realest and the tears won’t stop flowing. Allison glances up and into Lydia’s face for the first time in what feels like ages. Lydia gives her a small smile as she squeezes Allison’s hand. Though no words are exchanged, Allison relaxes enough into the familiar touch to really take in their surroundings. The sound of the waterfall is loud enough to drown out the sound of her heartbeat and to quiet the thoughts in her mind. For the first time all day, Allison feels like she is at peace. The white noise from the waterfall is so loud that Allison almost doesn’t catch the whisper soft confession fall from Lydia’s lips.

“I’m sorry for getting angry at you last night and I am so sorry for what I said. It was completely out of place and I’m sorry for criticizing you for making out with that guy. You were right, it was wrong of me to comment about your standards and sexual desires. Especially since you have been so supportive of me these past couple of years through all of my questionable relationships or lack there of…”

Allison finds herself holding her breathe in without even realizing it, she lets it out when Lydia’s voice trails off with a quiet self deprecating laugh. She opens her mouth to reply but like always Lydia beats her to it, her voice a little stronger this time but it sounds confused and terribly lost. Allison turns her body to face Lydia, her heart aches at the uncommon display of vulnerability that Lydia is sharing with her right now.

“Thanks for being patient with me and willing to call me out on my bullshit. I don’t even really know where it came from… the anger I mean. I just saw you kissing him and I couldn’t help but think that he probably doesn’t know that your favorite color is navy, that you don’t believe in fate or unicorns, that you take your coffee with extra cream and sugar, that you love music with a good beat to sing and dance to, that you sleep with chinese daggers under your pillow just in case, and that you are one of the strongest people I have ever met. And that made me so…it made me so irrationally angry.”

Lydia’s speech tampers off again as she stares straight forward, as if searching the mist for the answers, for the rational explanation for her anger. Allison studies her side profile for the entire confession. She scoffs slightly, rolling her eyes playfully, and chuckles to herself quietly. Her smiles is genuine as she feels whatever barrier that had established itself between her and Lydia over the past sixteen hours finally crumble away.

“God, you almost sound jealous, like Scott when Isaac and I first started liking each other!”

Lydia snaps her head to look at Allison, her eyes wide with sudden clarity.

“Maybe I was jealous…”

Allison’s eyebrows draw together in confusion,

“Why-Why would you be jealous?”

Lydia glances down to where she is still grasping Allison’s hand on the railing then back up to Allison’s face. She pauses as she searches Allison’s face for a second, her eyes flick from Allison’s lips to her eyes and back again. Her voice drops to a whisper as she responds,

“Maybe I was jealous... because I wanted to be the one kissing you…”

Noticing Lydia’s gaze, Allison bites her lip half due to the added attention on them and half in contemplation of this notion. Lydia’s gaze returns to her eyes with a certain sense of determination but her nervousness reveals itself in the form of a blush that forms on her cheeks. Allison realizes how dumb the two of them have been the moment she acknowledges to herself that Lydia’s blush is endearing and adorable. She feels a blush on her own cheeks as she whispers back,

“Maybe I wanted you to be the one kissing me.”

Lydia leans in closer but Allison doesn’t move either direction, keeping perfectly still as if she isn’t sure if this is real, as if this could be one big misconception or worse yet she fell asleep in the car ride and this is all a dream and they are still fighting. Lydia pauses,

“You good?”

Allison nods as she mutters back,

“Absolutely.”

She surges forward to eliminate the gap between them. She feels Lydia’s hand reach up to grasp her chin. She closes her eyes so she can channel all her focus on her sense of touch, on where her lips meet the soft red lips of her best friend, of Lydia Martin. Her brain short fires a little bit at that thought and when Lydia pulls back, she feels lightheaded and Lydia looks a little breathless. Being this physically close, she finally feels the support needed to blurt out her own apology.

“I am sorry I called you a freak in a hateful tone last night. I mean you are a freak but in the best of ways. You are a freak but...you’re….”

“Your freak?”

Lydia supplies, staying close and leaning into Allison’s space as she curls a loose strand of Allison’s hair around her pointer finger before looking back up to Allison’s gaze. Allison smiles and shakes her head,

“I’m no idiot. I know very well that you don’t belong to anyone.”

“Correct.”

Lydia says, over emphasizing the hard t at the end of the word. She continues to play with the curl of hair around her finger to distract herself before speaking up again,

“But I wouldn’t mind being with you.”

“Like girlfriends?”

Allison looks down at Lydia’s open face and feels the slight tug of Lydia playing with her hair, affection fills her as Lydia beams up at her.

“Yeah, like girlfriends.”

Allison puts her hand on Lydia’s waist to test out the feeling of her skin against Lydia’s. It feels right deep in her bones in a way that nothing has in a long, long time, like way before she knew about werewolves, hunters, or even Beacon Hills. She rubs her thumb in soothing circles against the skin on Lydia’s hip as she returns her smile.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that either.”

Allison seals her words over ~~Lydia’s~~ -no ~~her best friend’s~~ no- _her girlfriend’s lips_ , feeling the stupid grin that Lydia is sporting rather than seeing it is a nice change that she knows she could get use to.

  
[](https://roadtrippers.com/trips/52629ec2c2720c51c6001672)


	8. Bad Girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I can't thank you guys enough for all of the support! I appreciate your comments and opinions so much. Thank you for sharing them for with me!
> 
> Shout out to [hollandperfection](http://hollandperfection.tumblr.com/) for a certain edible something in this chapter that was her idea!
> 
> Warning: Recreational Drug Use (Weed) in a place where it is illegal.
> 
> Also NSFW, smut warning. It is my first time writing NSFW (EVER) so if it sucks please fucking tell me!!!! (I am very self conscious about it tbh Like do I use the word boobs or breasts?? Pussy or vagina? Is this even realistic??? Ahhh the important questions)

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/tagged/allydia)

When Allison wakes up, the first thing she notices is how stiff her neck from sleeping in the car at a weird angle. She sits up slowly, rubbing at the ache as she rolls her neck gently to test out the amount of damage. Lydia’s sleep filled voice cuts through her mental survey of the pain.

“I told you that you could use my sweatshirt as a pillow last night. How much do you regret not listening to my advice?”

Allison grunts noncommittally, unwilling to give Lydia the satisfaction of being right first thing in the morning. Lydia’s quiet giggle makes her look up in confusion, remembering that their alarm has yet to go off. That is when Allison notices a second thing, her arm, that is asleep, is still holding Lydia’s perfectly manicured one across the center console of the car. Physical proof that yesterday’s kiss was real; that their relationship is real. She grins to herself at the memory of Lydia’s lips on hers and Lydia continues talking as if she can read Allison’s mind.

“So I see being in a relationship doesn’t change the fact that you are nonverbal before your first cup of coffee...”

Allison rolls her eyes but the smile still on her lips dampens any negative connotation her gesture could possibly have. Lydia holds her gaze for moment, sharing a quiet smile before she gets up to start stretching.

“Stiles texted me last night to say that we have to go to the main Ben&Jerry’s in Vermont to try the Vermonster before we travel all the way up to Acadia.”

Reluctantly, Allison releases Lydia’s hand to adjust her seat so she can drive. She drums her fingers on the steering wheel of the car, biting on her lower lip trying to remember where she has heard of a Vermontser before.

“What?”

“He says don’t google it but we should bring the appetite equivalent of Scott and Isaac combined.”

“So two high school werewolf boys?”

“Hmmm… apparently.”

“I don’t think there is enough weed in the world for me to be able to have an appetite like that.”

Lydia’s laughs in response as she too adjusts her seat for the long drive ahead of them. She plugs her phone into the car’s stereo, her playlist fills the car as Allison pulls onto the highway to start the next leg of their journey together.  
  
(When they arrive at Ben&Jerry’s, the beautiful weather has everyone outside and craving something sweet. By the time they reach the counter, they have seen three mini armies of people with Vermonster buckets packed with twenty scoops of ice cream with various toppings, whipped cream, and cherries. Lydia texts Stiles back saying, “I think you underestimated the challenge. The appetite of the whole pack is needed.” It’s the first direct communication they have had with the pack [excluding parents] for the entire trip but it feels right.)

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/12367412595/in/photolist-jQSdTD-cQYzPs-cbke9q-5Uf3x-hysU91-cBQwcU-ahRNxM-64bMe-aiigBp-6TpNTQ-yG3iV-ibM5fR-3pBmQ8-cukkAS-4k1iME-Gj8s-a1SBkG-S4vRB-c46kW7-giGSub-bocWH5-fSJc5F-61Rsgp-79VuGX-c46jfL-g5YUzX-9ZoUar-5ix7vh-a5rg8g-g5ZUW6-7Zf9iE-brEKYe-7NgK7y-9U1M79-jjwB9i-5Uf74-5vPq4Z-9ZrNhQ-9ZrN67-9ZoSZt-9ZoPXB-9ZoSeD-9ZoTHB-9ZrJrQ-9ZoQNg-9ZrPmC-9ZrNH7-9ZrKrj-9ZrKB3-9ZoVht)

It only takes an hour of hiking for Lydia and Allison to stumble upon the perfect camping spot to spend the night. It’s a wooden deck area that overlooks a small portion of an ocean inlet, surrounded by tall thick trees. It doesn’t have a fire pit but there at least half a dozen campsites in the area that do. After wrestling with her new cocoon tent for thirty minutes, Allison steps back with Lydia to admire her handiwork at the frustrating task. Lydia shrugs and begins saying that it looks a little but Allison silences that sentence with a single look that threatens Lydia with the prospect of sleeping tentless. So Lydia effortlessly changes the topic to it being the perfect time for a walk.

They walk for about two miles on a path that is supposed to lead them to the ocean and a lighthouse, when Allison starts laughing quietly to herself like she is trying to hold it in. Lydia looks back at her with an eyebrow raised, silently asking what is so funny. That simple and familiar gesture is enough to cause Allison to lose whatever little control she has over herself, she leans forward, laughing hard, and clutching her stomach. Lydia can’t stop the grin that spreads across her lips at the simple fact that Allison’s happiness is contagious to her. Allison struggles to find a breathe to explain her hysterics,

“L-l-lydia! You! You kissed-kissed me! We kissed!”

Lydia’s smile diminishes slightly at the path this conversation seems to be going, not understanding what is so funny about it because the only explanations she has makes a rock form in the pit of her stomach.

“Yes… yes we did, Allison.”

Allison notices the corners of Lydia’s smile are beginning to turn down and how her body seems rigid. She manages to tamper her laughter down to a giggle, a big joyous smile still on her lips.

“We kissed Lydia! And it was amazing. Why did we wait so long?”

Lydia exhales on heavy sigh filled with anxiety, the rock in her stomach dissolves immediately into laughter that bubbles out of her as she rolls her eyes affectionately. 

“I don’t know Allison. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time.”  
“Or maybe we were both just dumb.”

Then Allison erupts in laughter again as if the idea of the two of them being dumb is seriously the funniest thing in the world to her. As suddenly as she started laughing, she stops and looks back to Lydia, who is regarding her with a tilted head and hands on her hips. Allison’s eyes go wide in clear realization of a very important idea.

“Do you think the pack always knew we were lesbians?”

“Probably not because we aren’t really lesbians, probably much closer to bisexual on the Kinsey scale. Besides, collectively we have either slept with or kissed the entire pack. Why are you suddenly thinking about this and finding it so hysterical? You sound high...”

Allison starts laughing again and mutters to herself as she begins searching her pockets.

“Oh fuck. I forgot I bought these cookies while I was waiting for you in Seattle! I didn’t know I bought edibles! Oh my god. Fuck! Lydia! I am high!”

Allison laughs harder as Lydia removes a small container from her hands that has the label _”High on Cloud 9 Bake Goods”_ with two chocolate chip cookies left. Lydia starts laughing with Allison, shaking her head at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“Really Allison? You had no idea? Did you read the label?”

“Well now it makes sense why I had to show I.D… Shhh-stop judging me. I saved you two at least?”

Allison bats her eyes down at Lydia, a goofy smile still playing loosely on her lips. When Lydia looks back up, Allison’s face is so much closer to hers than seconds ago. Lydia’s breath catches in her throat at the site of her beautiful girlfriend, cheeks red from laughter and clear shining eyes just for her. 

“Come on Lydia, get high as fuck with me and we can admire how beautiful nature is together.”

Sappy words about Allison’s beauty spring into Lydia’s mind, but she distracts herself from actually voicing them by eating the two cookies. When she finishes chewing her last bite, Allison leans in two more inches to capture her lips. Lydia immediately braces her arms on Allison’s and pulls away a couple of inches before the kiss distracts her.

“Allison. While that cookie was delicious, it tasted like weed. How did you not notice that they tasted weird?”

A sheepish smile comes across Allison’s lips as she ducks her head, a blush forms on her cheeks as she returns her eyes back to Lydia’s face.

“I was so hungry. I just figured they were stale…”

At the embarrassed confession that stumbles out of Allison’s lips, Lydia laughs in response and rests her forehead against Allison’s. Their faces are so close, that it is impossible to not go cross eyed to maintain eye contact. 

“Reasonable, babe.”

[ ](http://reachingflames.deviantart.com/art/Memories-in-a-fire-148570505)

By the time Allison and Lydia return to their little campsite, the sun is just beginning to set and their high wore off. They are debating the pros and cons of making friends with another campsite so they can have a hot dinner, but at the same time it sounds exhausting. Just as they reach their tent, the scent of weed hits both of them at the same time. They turn to each, sporting matching grins.

“Let’s befriend those people.”

“We can even bribe their friendship with our s'mores supplies and extra hot dogs…”

“I’m going to bring our own joint though. Just incase they don’t share well.”

They leave their campsite again, with a backpack of new provisions, Lydia holds Allison’s hand to lead them to source of the smell. When they finally find the source, there is a dying out fire and a group of college aged kids laughing and completely oblivious to their surroundings. Allison pulls up short right behind Lydia, in front of the pathetic attempt at a fire.

“You know, if you want to mask the obvious scent of weed, you actually have to keep the fire going.”

Allison ducks her head onto Lydia’s shoulder to hide her chuckle as the group turns around startled, one guy belatedly attempts to hide the pipe behind his back. A guy in a gray sweatershirt steps forward to squint at Lydia and Allison, he relaxes immediately when he realizes they are not Park Rangers; he speaks up first,

“Fuck! You nearly gave me a heart attack! Don’t pull that kinda shit! Dude, if you can get that fire going, you can join us.”

Lydia rolls her eyes, muttering in response as she bends down to readjust the fire into her successful teepee design she made on the peninsula in Seattle. 

“Of course, I can.”

Allison smiles sweetly as she reaches into their backpack and removes a bag of marshmallows.

“We thought you might have the munchies so we brought treats to share!”

The guy in the sweatshirt steps closer to them, his eyes slightly glassy with a goofy grin on his lips. He extends his hand to Allison,

“Wow, you’re practically a godsend! I’m Jason by the way.”

“I’m Allison! And this is Lydia!”

Allison says as she shakes his hand, gesturing towards where Lydia is coaxing the fire back to life. A couple walks over, arms linked, one in a ratty Red Sox hat and the other with thick dark frames. 

“The fire is alive! Our Saviors! I’m Sam and this is Alex. We’re just about to have some dinner, want to join us?”

Lydia stands back up, turns her attention back to the couple.

“Depends if what you are eating is any better than hot dogs.”

“It’s the same…”

Jason perks up immediately at this, clasping his hands together.

“So you’ll stay! We can all take another hit post dinner.”

“I’m sold if you are Allison.”

Allison nods her consent as they head further into the campsite, meeting the rest of the entourage in the midst of preparing dinner. Somehow, they end up spending the next two hours sitting around the campfire with these complete strangers talking about life, swapping stories, and playing guitar. When Allison mentions something about entering their senior year of high school, Jason nearly falls out of his folding chair, claiming they are the coolest high schoolers he has ever met. 

It is about midnight by the time Sam convinces Jason it’s time for another smoke. By this time in the night, Allison and Lydia are not sitting next to each other due to different conversations. Allison is sitting between a girl playing a guitar and Jason, while Alex is debating with Lydia on the log bench across the fire. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Lydia can see Jason shamelessly flirting with Allison who seems to be oblivious. Lydia tries to clamp down on the jealousy that rises when Jason makes Allison laugh or the fact that his leg is pressed up against hers. Every time Lydia makes eye contact with her, they share private sweet smiles that make it a little easier to swallow down that jealousy.

On the first pass of the pipe, Allison simply gives it to the guitar girl next to her. Lydia raises an eyebrow at Allison while she takes her own hit off the pipe, enjoying the tickle of the smoke as she inhales deeply. She exhales slowly as she realizes that Allison’s shrug simply means that she has no clue how to use a pipe. A brilliant plan (like all of her plans are) comes to her mind as she stands up. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she crosses to where Allison is sitting. Allison beams up at her, gently patting the space on her lap, signaling for Lydia to sit down. Lydia sits so her knees resting on the log bench as she straddles Allison’s legs, her face inches from Allison’s. Allison rests her hands on Lydia’s thighs, drawing circles while Lydia keeps her hands in the small space between them. She notices that next to them, Jason is taking another hit as he takes in the scene of them. Allison beaming smile never wavers, especially as she whispers in a soft and happy voice. 

“Hey girlfriend.”

“Hey. Wanna shotgun babe?”

Lydia watches the instantaneous response her words trigger in Allison: her eyes dilate and her grip tightens on Lydia’s thighs. Her whisper soft response is a little rougher when she replies with a faint, “yeah” charging the air between them. Lydia smirks in response to the soft “shit” that Jason lets out as he passes her the pipe.

Lydia leans back slightly to give her more space, trusting Allison to keep her from toppling which she does by moving one hand from Lydia’s thigh to her waist. Lydia takes her hit and inhales deep, locking her eyes on Allison’s as she passes the pipe to the guitar girl next to them. In her mind she counts to three before leaning back in towards Allison, who is biting her lip in anticipation. Lydia tilts her head to the side a little and puts both her hands on the smooth skin of Allison’s jaw. Allison licks her lips as just as Lydia closes her eyes to seal her mouth over Allison’s. She exhales slowly, enjoying the sweet lips under hers and how it feels when Allison’s throat opens as she inhales. When Lydia finishes exhaling, she opens her eyes, pulling her chin back so she can rest her forehead on Allison’s while she holds the smoke in. Allison exhales through her nose, causing a slight cough and some smoke to leave through her mouth. Lydia grins,

“You were perfect babe.”

Allison dives back in for another kiss, as if that single phrase ignites a fire in her veins that she wants to share with Lydia, wants to share some of that warmth. Her hand moves up Lydia’s thigh and the other one searches for the skin under her shirt. Lydia’s hand goes to the back of Allison’s head to pull her mouth closer to hers. Allison’s tongue sweeps across Lydia’s lips but before Lydia has a chance to part her lips, Allison pulls away. She smirks up at Lydia.

“Thanks boo.”

Lydia scrunches her nose in slight protest of the ridiculous pet name but with that smirk on Allison’s face, she isn’t going to deny her. A slow clap from behind Lydia brings them back to the present and the fact that they aren’t alone. Lydia turns her head to survey the scene, pretty much everyone is staring. Jason is holding the pipe again and is the first to recover.

“Wow. First off, didn’t peg you as girlfriends. Second, that was hands down the hottest thing I have ever seen. Shit. Wanna go again?”

Lydia is about to say yes, just to rub it in Jason’s face that she gets to do things like this with Allison because they are dating. But Allison speaks up before she has a chance.

“Thanks but we are gonna head to bed. We have another long trip ahead of us tomorrow. It was nice meeting you guys!”

Lydia stands up, offering her hand to help Allison up off the bench. They both giggle when Allison collides with her, feeling the small effects from a little weed. Allison grabs Lydia’s hand and begins to pull her towards their campsite, Lydia turns to wave bye one last time.

“Good night! Have a nice life everyone!”

Back in their tent, Allison barely has the lamp turned on before Lydia is on her. Lydia straddles her lap for the second time that night, her hands scramble under Allison’s sweater as she kisses her lips hard. Allison’s hand flies to Lydia’s curls, the other back to her hip and up her shirt. Lydia pulls back, a smiles that radiates pure joy on her face.

“You called me your girlfriend.”

“You are my girlfriend… I’m not ashamed to be dating you Lydia.”

That gives Lydia pause, letting the truth in her words sink deep into her body. She leans back a little and removes her shirt. She moves back in, holding Allison’s face in her hands.

“I’m not ashamed either. I want everyone to know.”

She makes her words a promise that she kisses into Allison’s mouth, feels their teeth clank as they grin stupidly in a way that only happens after smoking. Allison peels off her sweater before returning her hands to Lydia’s head and hip. Allison leans until she is laying down on the sleeping bag, pulling Lydia down on top of her. Her hand scrambles to turn off the lantern before continuing its exploration of the smooth curves of Lydia’s body. Her hands converge on Lydia’s bra and they shake a little as she unhooks it, her hands eager to touch more skin. She feels her bra become unhooked as well and Lydia pulls away slightly to remove it, her hands trailing slowly up Allison’s bare stomach, her eyes cataloging every beauty mark and scar, biting her lip as she does so, a sign that she is concentrating fully on this one task.

When Lydia’s fingers reach her boobs and gives a gentle squeeze, Allison sucks in a breath-tightening her grip on Lydia’s hips. Lydia’s eyes shoot up to hers to watch her reaction as she takes a nipple in between her thumb and pointer finger, pinching gently then rubbing back and forth. Allison lets out a soft moan at the feeling, even in the darkness she can see the gleam in Lydia’s eyes at the sound she makes and it turns her on even more. Allison reaches up and pulls Lydia’s head down to hers so she can kiss her soft lips. Lydia’s hand switches its attention to her other nipple as Allison snakes her hand up to Lydia’s boob. Her first squeeze catches Lydia off guard and when she parts her mouth on a sharp inhale, Allison takes the opportunity to make the kiss dirtier by licking her mouth. Lydia lets out groan as she unconsciously grinds her hips down on Allison’s which elicits a gasp from Allison’s lips.

Allison’s hands travel lower to the top of Lydia’s skirt but hands stop hers from proceeding lower. She looks up when Lydia whispers a quiet confession.

“I have no idea what I am doing...”

“Me neither. We can wait though before we touch eachoth-”

“Could we? Please?  
Honestly, I think I could get off just like this, feeling your skin against mine.”

“Yeah? Me too, well, I think this could help…”

Allison says as she parts her legs a little more until one of Lydia’s legs falls in between hers. Allison lifts her thigh so she can rub Lydia’s clit through her underwear. Lydia closes her eyes as a surprised moan falls from her lips as she mutters, “fuck”. Allison winks at her playfully but before she can reply, Lydia cuts her off with a dirty kiss of tongue and teeth. Their boobs touch against each other for the first time and they both groan at the foreign sensation. Lydia bites on Allison’s lower lip then quickly kisses it in an apology. Her mouth trails down Allison’s jaw, peppering it with kisses. Her hands return to Allison’s boobs when she begins to bite Allison’s sensitive neck. Allison’s hands fly to Lydia’s back, trying in vain to pull their bodies closer than they already are, her hands slipping for purchase on Lydia’s soft skin. Any movement causes an increase in pressure on both of their clits from where their thighs are, which only makes Allison writhe more under Lydia’s attention.

Lydia’s kisses don’t stop at her neck either, they continue down her chest to her boobs. She licks a nipple and is delighted by Allison’s response. She blows air on the wet stripe she licked to watch her nipple harden before biting at it. Allison moans at the sensation, shamelessly grinding against Lydia’s thigh, looking for relief in the form of more pressure on her clit. While Lydia alternates between biting and licking Allison’s nipple, her hand squeezes and pinches the other one. Allison’s hand tangles itself in Lydia’s strawberry blonde curls and pulls her closer to her chest. Her whisper of praise is broken by little moans and gasps,

“Lydia… yeah… fuck. please… please don’t stop. That feels so fucking good.”

Lydia switches her mouth to the other nipple and her hand to the bruised one. Allison sucks in a deep breath at the sensation of soft skin against her tender nipple before she is guiding Lydia back up to her mouth for a filthy, desperate kiss. Their tongues fight for dominance before Allison wins, gripping Lydia’s neck tight as her thighs tighten around Lydia’s. A soft moan escapes Allison’s mouth as she finally finds her release. Lydia grinds down on Allison’s thigh, trailing Allison. Their kisses turn sweet and tired as they both relax into each other’s arms. Lydia pulls the sleeping bag over them as Allison gently scratches her scalp.

“That. That was amazing.”

“I have to agree. It was.”

“Even though I didn’t really get to get you off…”

“Are you kidding me? Those noises you were making when I was biting your nipple were getting me off.”

“Damn. Why is the idea of you getting pleasure from giving me pleasure so hot?”

“I’m not complaining. Now, we do have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I think we should get some rest. Good night, babe.”

“Good night, boo.”

Allison says with a gentle kiss to the top of Lydia’s head where is nestled in her arm. She tightens her arm around Lydia’s waist, pulling her flush against her side again before she closes her eyes, falling into a deep sleep aided by the warmth of her girlfriend.

[ ](https://roadtrippers.com/trips/escape-plan/52629ec2c2720c51c6001672)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously my nicknames aren't super clever but I love when girls call girls babe. Who knows? I might change it tomorrow when I reread it.


	9. Run the World (Girls)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the SHORTEST chapter in forever but I have an idea for the rest of the fic so bear with me??

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/tagged/SaTW)

“Well Lydia, thank you for interviewing. I look forward to your application when you apply to MIT in the Fall. Best of luck in your college search! Have a good afternoon and enjoy Boston!”

Lydia walks out of the head of the physics department’s office with a smug smile on her face that only happens when an interview goes really well. Even though it wasn’t a formal interview with admissions, Lydia did her research beforehand. She knows that having the head of the department on her side will only strengthen her application.

Lydia enters the reception room for the physics department to find that Allison is no longer sitting there. She slows her steps to take in her surroundings, trying to see which hallway leads to the bathroom, where Allison probably went. The man behind the reception desk, about a year or two older than Lydia, notices her confusion immediately, he speaks up:

“This isn’t the department you are looking for.”

A cheesy grin spreads on his face at his Star Wars reference. Lydia stops walking completely and draws her eyebrows together in complete confusion at his outburst.

“What?”

“This is the Physics department…”

“I know that…”

“So, the Arts department you want to tour is across the street. You are in the wrong place.”

“No I’m not. I am interested in math-”

“Still, this isn’t the math education department.”

Lydia's eyebrows go from confused to extremely annoyed. She grits her teeth in annoyance at the idiot in front of her, suddenly feeling the need to defend herself and her intellectual interests.

“I don’t want to teach math. I want to apply it to understand and solve phenomenons in the universe.”

He rolls his eyes, leaning back in his chair slightly as he scoffs lightly.

“Pfft. You are definitely in the wrong place then. You clearly don’t know a thing about physics. It is so much more than that. People like you wouldn’t last a day in the physics major here.”

“People like me? What does that even mean? Women in general? Or just attractive women? I am plenty intelligent for a place like MIT but I am sure it is sexist idiots like you that would make me leave.”

“Sounds like you are already making excuses-”

Suddenly, the head of the physics department, that interviewed Lydia, walks in, interrupting their argument with a clipped and annoyed tone,

“Jon! Stop speaking! That is no way to talk to a potential future classmate. I’m sorry if he said anything to hurt your feelings Lydia-what he said does not represent the views of the department or myself! Increasing diversity in the physics field is important to both me and my other colleagues in the department.  
Jon, may I speak to you for a moment?”

Lydia smiles and opens her mouth to respond but the head of department turns the corner with a red faced Jon quick on his heels before she can even speak. Lydia decides that she might as well eavesdrop on what she is sure will be an interesting conversation since she is waiting for Allison to return anyway. She edges closer to the doorway while remaining out of sight but close enough to make out the harsh hushed tones.

“You know what the benefits of increasing diversity will do for this department.”

“I just don’t think we should lower our standards to fulfil some diversity requirement. Why should we turn away applicants that are more qualified just because they are male? Shouldn’t we only accept the very best into our department?”

“Jon, if we reach certain numbers in our department in categories of diversity, such as gender, then our program can receive an increase in funding for research.”

“Even though she is easy on the eyes-”

Lydia’s face slowly falls into it’s carefully blank mask of emotion that is most prominent when she is angry and in concentration mode. The moment Jon makes a comment on her looks, she decides that it is time to leave. She turns and walks briskly to the doors, her skin itching with the desire to put a good distance between her and that discouraging conversation. Right outside the door, she is met with a smiling Allison who is holding a large ice coffee in one hand and a Dunkin Donuts bag in the other. Allison’s smile vanishes from her face when she sees the expression Lydia is sporting. She offers the coffee which Lydia takes immediately and begins to drink furiously. Her rigid back relaxing slightly at the delicious taste of a coffee made just the way she likes. Her slight relaxation (and supportive company) allows for the anger building up in her mind to tumble off her tongue. Allison watches her face with rapt attention, nodding along and supporting her angry tirade, even though the source of it is unbeknownst to her.

“I am more than my looks.”

“Absolutely.”

“I am very smart.”

“Yeah, you are a genius Lydia!”

“I am fucking worth more than just a check in the box of diversity to fulfil some stupid fucking requirements for research funding.”

Once Allison hears that, her face softens. She knows that because Lydia kept her the full extent of intelligence under wraps for so long, the idea of people disregarding it for other “visible assets” is a sensitive topic. She takes Lydia’s hand in hers, kissing Lydia’s forehead gently while she rubs comforting circles with her thumb on the back of her hand.

“Well. Shit.  
You are. You are your own person; you’re amazing. Any college would be so lucky to have you tearing shit up in their physics lab or or inventing some insane mathematical equation that will win you a Fields Medal.”

Lydia snorts when Allison mentions her life goal, a the ghost of a smile on her lips at the idea that Allison remembers her mentioning it during one of their sleepovers. Allison begins to lead her away from the building.

“You’re right. I can have any college I want. I can refuse to go anywhere that doesn’t recognize my full worth. I can do whatever I want for my education. I have choices. I am more than just a number.”

“Exactly! How about we put this shit behind us and just enjoy the beautiful weather? Let’s go do some ridiculously touristy things in Boston like eat Dunkin Donuts on the Freedom Trail while losing our ‘r’s before gorging ourselves on Italian food in the North End.  
Here boo, I already got you your first doughnut to start the adventure through history!”

Allison supplies as she thrusts the bag she was holding in her other hand into Lydia’s face. Lydia trades her coffee for the doughnut, rolling her eyes the whole time as if it is a travesty to eat sugared carbs. She swings her hand that is holding Allison’s gently between them.

“I like this.”

“The doughnut? Good. It’s a Boston Creme and I feel like it would be a sin if you said you didn’t-”

“No, not that. I mean I do like it but I mean I like this: holding your hand. We’ve never really done it before…”

Allison looks at Lydia with a sense of awe. A grin spreads across her face as the corner’s of Lydia’s mouth twitch upwards.

“No… we haven’t. I like it too.”

They walk in silence for a couple of blocks, simply enjoying the weather, the city, the hand holding, and each other’s company. Allison finishes the coffee and lets go of Lydia’s hand to throw it away. When she returns, her hand slips into Lydia’s without a second thought. Lydia squeezes her hand prompting Allison to turn and look at her.

“You good boo?”

“Absolutely…  
Thanks babe.”

  
[ ](www.smith.edu)  


After spending the entire day exploring the city (because Allison is a secret history buff with a soft spot for the American Revolution), Allison and Lydia decide to stay in a hotel for the night instead of driving out to western Massachusetts for Allison's Tuesday afternoon interview. Their bodies are so exhausted after a long day of being tourists, they hardly notice that the quality of the motel is less than the places they have been staying considering the price.

The following morning starts a little slow, but begins to pick up and return on track after they make their second stop for Dunkin Donuts in an hour. As they drive away from the city, the landscape changes to less buildings but more hills, mountains, and farms. As the landscape becomes more and more beautifully green, Allison grows more and more restless. She is constantly adjusting the music, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel, or fidgeting with the collar on the raggedy sweater she is wearing that says “SMITH” across the front. Lydia knows the jitters has nothing to do with the two large coffees Allison has drank so far, but she also knows better than to bring it up when they are in an enclosed space. 

Once they finally arrive and are standing outside the building of admissions, Lydia can no longer pretend to not see the slight tremble in Allison’s hands or the way her eyes look like they are on the verge of tears. Lydia reaches her hand out and squeezes Allison’s arm before just pulling her into a tight hug. She pulls back a little to look Allison in the eyes, she moves a lock of her curls out of her face before smiling encouragingly.

“Why are you so nervous babe? You are going to do great at this interview. You are friendly, smart, kind, and strong. They are going to love you.”

“I just don’t want to fuck it up… This interview means a lot to me; the opportunity to get into this college means a lot to me.”

“Why babe? Is Smith your top college?”

“It is but… it’s also where my mom went to college and her mom… They both loved this place so much and I think… I think I would love it too.”

“I didn’t know-”

“I didn’t tell you. I didn’t tell anyone because it’s kinda the last thing I have of hers. I didn’t want to say anything about it cause I was afraid that I would jinx myself and somehow ruin my chances of getting in. Then I would have nothing left of her, not even her legacy.”

“Allison, that is not true. Your mom taught you so much: she taught you how to string a bow, how to be strong, and how to hide daggers in cute outfits... Those are all pieces of her that you can never lose because they are apart of who you are. Regardless of whether you get into this school or not, your father and your mom, even from heaven, are proud of you because of the amazing and strong woman you are. I know I am proud of you; I’m proud to call you my girlfriend. Now, go knock that interview dead. You got this. I know you do.”

Lydia says with a kiss on Allison’s lips, she can feel Allison’s lips curving into a smile as she pulls away. Lydia takes Allison’s hand in hers and leads her into the admissions office. As they check in with the woman, also about their age, behind the reception desk, an older woman appears in a doorway and smiles kindly at them.

“Hi Allison? My name is Gene and I will be interviewing you today. It’s a pleasure to meet the daughter of Victoria. I love having the opportunity to interview a daughter of an Alumni that is interested in becoming a Smithie!”

Lydia squeezes Allison’s hand once more before letting it go so she can go down the hall with Gene for her interview. Lydia pauses and surveys the room, taking in the people sitting in the reception area as well as the staff working. Lydia tilts her head in confusion before directing her attention to the student receptionist.

“There are hardly any guys here…”

The student chuckles to herself at that comment before smiling up at Lydia from her position behind the desk.

“That’s because Smith College is an all women’s college. Only our small grad program accepts men.”

“Hmmm… Really? I could get used to a place like this.”

“Well, we’re one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation, the only all women’s college to offer engineering, and we have the best houses or dorms according to Princeton Review.  
Interested in signing up for a tour while you wait for your girlfriend to finish her interview?”

Lydia blushes slightly at the fact that someone noticed and called Allison her girlfriend, it makes her stomach woosh in an embarrassing sickly sweet emotions way. She grins to herself as she picks up the Smith booklet lying on the desk.

“No, I think I will wait to take the tour with her. But what can you tell me about the physics department?”

[ ](https://roadtrippers.com/trips/escape-plan/52629ec2c2720c51c6001672)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer - I do not hate MIT but I know a couple of women that have gone there and had experiences/conversations very similar to what I described here. I am not sure if MIT is currently like this but sexism is very much alive in a lot of technical schools and male dominated majors. So I wanted to mention that shit like this happens and it can make you feel like shit.
> 
> Also, shameless plug for my college which I love dearly. (no but seriously. it's the bomb.)
> 
> Ps. Don't ever let me post things at 1am. Did I even reread this??? (fixing it up now...)


	10. Brave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated the tags because this chapter came out so much darker than I intended?
> 
> But then I made it better??
> 
> Enjoy???

[ ](www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/tagged/SaTW)

Allison giggles to herself when she drops one of the four king sized Reese's Peanut Butter Cups that she is trying to juggle in her arms with two cans of soda as she rifles through her pocket for the hotel room key. The thought that all this sugar might be unnecessary when they already have a bag of sweets from their visit to M&M World earlier that day enters her mind but she quickly shrugs that thought out of the way with the reminder that the sugar won’t go bad. Allison makes a small noise in triumph when she finally manages to wiggle the thin plastic key out of her back pocket and open the door without dropping anything else. She puts her foot in the door while she bends down to pick up the candy she dropped earlier, raising her voice so Lydia can hear her.

“Boo, the vending machine didn’t have any 7up but they had your second favorite soda, Ginger Ale, so I got you that inst-”

Allison doesn’t even need to look up to notice that something is off. It isn’t a noise that sets her on alert but rather the lack of noise makes her back go rigid in preparation for a fight. Her voice slowly tampers out as her mind kicks into huntress mode. She stands up slowly, her eyes darting to the side to see if she has unwanted company as well as where her closest weapon is hidden. Worst case scenario, she knows she will puncture a hole in the soda can to momentarily impair the vision of an attacker so she can grab the dagger from her boot.

Her eyes quickly sweep the entire hotel room and find not a single person, not even Lydia. Panic settles deep in Allison’s stomach as she does a second pass of the room, noticing the messy bed sheets and the crooked bedside lampshade. An irrational part of her mind thinks that this might be a hate crime against them for holding hands and exchanging kisses in public but then she remembers that things like werewolves and banshees exist so it could be a supernatural attack. That calms her in a sad sort of way because supernatural creatures are something she knows how to handle. She drops the food on the nearest table before unsheathing the Chinese dagger from her boot, she keeps it down by the side of her arm as she nears the bed slowly, unsure of what she will find.

The sight that greets her makes her makes her stomach feel as though it turned into lead. She quickly catalogs the blood on the sheets, pillow, and crumbled comforter. It doesn’t look like more than a soda can;s worth which means that Lydia could still be alive (she has to be alive). Allison efficiently but quickly checks the entire hotel room to secure her belief in being alone. She is trying to think rationally about the next step to take like where she should check next or who should she even contact but the idea that someone has hurt and taken her girlfriend, her best friend, is making her see red. All different possibilities of torture that Lydia could be facing right now flash through her mind making it hard for her to concentrate. She stops herself in the middle of the hotel room, taking a deep breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth to center herself and bring her back to the moment, to the task at hand: finding Lydia.

That is when she notices it, something that should have been the first thing to catch her eye. She mentally berates herself for overlooking the message that seems to be clawed out in the wooden headboard: “B13”. Without a second glance, Allison grabs her compact bow as an added boost to her weaponry and confidence as she leaves their hotel room and heads for the stairs.

Allison walks quickly down the fire staircase to the basement, her heart beating so hard that it is the only thing she can hear. On the outside she looks calm and collected, like she is just running late for a Broadway play or something but on the inside she is analyzing every single creature with claws that could have Lydia right now.

The first person Allison literally bumps into, brings her out of her mind and back to taking in her surroundings. The staircase is packed with people heading up to their rooms as if a function or a party just let out. She grits her teeth as she weaves against the flow of traffic, down the stairs as everyone moves up against her. She wishes she had Lydia’s hand to hold hers, to anchor her down as she tries to push her way through. It feels like it is taking ages to walk through these people, like they just keep coming and coming. It also seems as though she has walked down more than the four flights of stairs needed to reach the basement. She can’t help but feel like she is wasting time, precious time that could mean Lydia’s life.

Once Allison finally breaks through the crowd, she takes a deep breathe as she opens the door labeled “B”. She finds herself in a pretty empty parking garage which seems odd for a hotel in New York City, it gives her an unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach; it makes the hairs on her arm stand up. She glances around the garage, trying to remember where she saw the rooms earlier that day. She had seen them out of the corner of her eye when Lydia made a joke about how so many action films have a sketchy scene in a garage just like this one. Maybe that was Lydia’s banshee powers foreshadowing this moment right here… God, where had they been standing?

Allison turns around and right behind her is a series of doors, the one she is looking for is dead ahead with the door slightly ajar. She swallows hard as she moves quietly towards the door, one hand reaching out for the doorknob, the other popping open her compact bow. She whips open the door as she levels up her bow to her eye and peers into the room. The image of what she sees will forever be burned into her mind; it her makes her breathe stop short. Lydia’s body is curled up on the cold concrete floor in a pool of her own blood. The wall behind her displays an eerie message in what is sure to also be Lydia’s blood (because isn't it always?): “too late”. Time seems to stop as Allison rushes to Lydia’s side on the floor. She gently shakes Lydia’s shoulder, a small glimmer of hope fills her when Lydia’s eyes slowly flutter open. Allison’s heart starts beating fast as tears stream down her face while she searches her pocket with one hand for her cellphone, the other rests in Lydia’s hair.

“Lydia! Lydia! You’re still alive! You-You have to stay with me. Just stay with me. I’m going to call for help. Lydia? Lydia! Stay with me.”

Lydia opens her mouth to speak, now Allison can see the blood in her mouth and how pale Lydia really looks in the harsh fluorescent light. She reaches for Lydia’s hand and leans closer to make out the whisper soft words Lydia is trying to say.

“Allison? Why-why did you take… so long?”

“I’m so sorry boo. I got here as fast as I could. I really did-”

“Why? Why couldn’t you… why couldn’t you protect me?”

More blood fills Lydia’s mouth, coating her lips now. Allison’s tears begin to fall harder down her face as her breathe becomes short from how hard she is crying. She is squeezing Lydia’s hand, refusing to acknowledge how cold it is starting to feel and how Lydia’s eyes are having a hard time focusing on her face.. 

“There were so many people. I don’t know Lydia. I don’t know. I am sorry. I am so-”

Something firm hits Allison in the head causing her to blink in pure confusion. When she opens her eyes, she is no longer in the basement garage but rather back in her bed in the hotel room. She blinks a couple of times taking in her surroundings with a certain sense of disbelief because that dream, that nightmare, felt more real than they have felt in months. She looks next to her on the bed and is met with Lydia’s worried face, a book in her hands ready to throw. Allison’s eyebrows draw forward in confusion.

“You were having a nightmare then you started crying so hard you were hyperventilating. I knew I had to wake you up but I couldn’t touch you… The pillow was too soft and I was worried the notebook might not be hard enough.”

Allison’s hand reaches up, touching her still damp cheeks from her terrifying nightmare. She tries to smile but it probably comes out as weak and vulnerable as she feels.

“Thanks boo.”

Lydia leans in closer to Allison to wipe the tears off her cheek, a private smile on her lips. From this close, Allison see the crease imprints from the pillow on Lydia’s face. Embarrassment fills Allison as she realizes her clothes are damp from sweating in her dream and that she definitely woke Lydia up. Suddenly, feeling incredibly self conscious Allison pulls back out of Lydia’s reach and removes herself from the bed.

“I’m sorry I woke you. I’m just-just going to go for a little walk.”

Lydia’s concern is obvious in the way her eyebrows draw together and her eyes soften.

“It’s okay babe. Any time. I much rather be woken up in the middle of the night than have you go through a nightmare alone. Do you want me to come with you?”

Allison blushes at Lydia’s words, a warm bubbly feeling of gratitude fills her stomach but she knows that she needs to clear her head.

“No it’s fine. I’m just going to go to the vending machine that I saw by the elevator. Come find me if I’m not back in 5 minutes.”

“Okay. I will be right here.”

Lydia says as she gestures to their bed. Allison rolls her eyes fondly as she grabs her wallet and leaves their room. She walks to the vending machine and stops when she notices the soda machine next to it. A ginger ale sounds like a better option than a bag of chips. She slips a dollar into the machine and pushes for a ginger ale. As she waits for her soda to dispense, she surveys the vending machine in case anything catches her eye. She picks up her soda when she realizes something, the vending machine in front of her looks exactly like the one in her dream even though this is the first trip she has made to it. When the notion that she might still be dreaming hits her, she feels as though someone has dumped a bucket of ice water on her. She turns and runs back to the hotel room, needing to see Lydia right away. She frantically tries to open the hotel door but swiping the card too fast each time so the light blinks red instead of green. Lydia opens the door for her from the inside, she says teasingly,

“Struggling with the door-”

“Lydia. How many fingers do I have?”

“Allison, what’s going on? What happened?”

“Just count my fingers with me! Please!”

Lydia lets Allison in and closes the door behind her. She takes the can of soda from Allison’s hand so she can hold up both of her hands. In unison they count upwards from one,

“One… two… three… four… five…. six… seven… eight… nine.. ten.  
Ten fingers Allison. You have ten fingers as do I.”

Relief surges through Allison allowing her shoulders to slump forward. She pulls Lydia into a crushing hug before whispering in her ear.

“The vending machine was exactly the same as the one in my dream. I thought-I thought I might still be dreaming.”

Lydia’s hands rub up and down Allison’s back, she kisses the side of her head and squeezes her tightly before pulling back.

“You are okay. You are awake. You are safe.  
Do you want to talk about it?”

Images of the nightmare like Lydia’s body on the concrete floor, the blood on her lips, her cold hands all flash before Allison’s eyes and she shakes her head no as Lydia leads her back to bed.

“Not yet.”

Lydia hums in understanding as she sits on the bed, tucking her feet beside her. She gestures for Allison to join her and rest her head on Lydia’s lap. Allison does just that, relaxing immediately into Lydia’s touch as she plays with her hair. It puts her mind at ease but her body is still too on edge to fall back asleep. Lydia doesn’t speak, knowing that Allison has more to say.

“It just felt so real, you know? I haven’t dreamt like that in months.”

“Some days are harder than others… I think being here, in the city, threw us off. I think the mass amount of people puts you on edge.”

“Pfft. You sleep pretty fine.”

“Babe, you have a darkness around your heart that I don’t. No matter how much time goes by you’ll still have that. Things affect me differently, you know that. Like entering cemeteries is still hard and really draining for me.”

“Yeah… you’re right. I think it is crowds. They feel suffocating...”

“Why don’t we leave then? Let’s leave now instead of in the morning. I’m ready to put these bright lights far behind us.”

“You just want to be able to spend more time at the Smithsonian museum!”

Lydia laughs at that comment which earns her a grin from Allison.

“You discovered my true ulterior motive! It isn’t like you are a history nerd either…”

Allison turns her head slightly so she can look up at Lydia, mock betrayal on her face.

“That’s my super secret secret!”

Lydia laughs at the expressions on Allison’s face before leaning in close. Her hair falling forward and creating a strawberry blonde veil around their faces. Allison’s lips twist up in a soft smile as Lydia’s breathe ghosts on her lips.

“You don’t need to keep secrets from me”, Lydia whispers against Allison’s lips before closing the distance to kiss her sweetly. Allison whispers back just as softly,

“I know.”

[ ](http://s41.photobucket.com/user/rongranger12/media/Fanfiction%20Graphics/SATW/Chap10-insta1_zps291bb96b.png.html)

The Smithsonian museums holds every bit of wonder and amusement for Lydia and Allison that a playground holds for a child the first time they visit one. They stay for almost six hours and still manage to not see every exhibit they had outlined in their agenda. The visits to all of the exhibits in each museum take a slow toll on Lydia, signs of exhaustion showing in the form of pinched lines around her eyes and the tightness in her smile as the hours drag on. Allison asks a half a dozen times if they should take a break but Lydia fights her on it each time, saying it’s all in her head and she wants to see more of D.C.

Allison is waiting for Lydia to get out of the bathroom before they leave the Smithsonian when a table that is set up outside catches her attention; they are selling handmade flower crowns. They look beautiful and Allison knows they will be just the thing to liven Lydia’s mood.

When Lydia comes out of the bathroom, the first thing she notices is the white and red flower crown in Allison’s outstretched hand. She glances from the crown in Allison’s hand to the one on her head, back down, then back up to Allison’s beaming smile. Allison steps forward and places the crown on her head.

“For you my Queen.”

Lydia rolls her eyes with a happy smile on her face. She looks up into Allison’s eyes.

“Does that make you my knight in shining armor?”

“Absolutely. We both know I would look great in armor.”

Allison replies as she leans forward to kiss Lydia firm on the lips, her tongue darts out to tease Lydia’s slightly parted mouth before pulling back to take her hand in hers.

“Come on boo, a couple more stops then it is time for dinner!”

Five hours, twelve memorials, and two meals later, Allison and Lydia finally find themselves in their quiet and peaceful motel room. Allison immediately heads to the bathroom to clean herself up after the long day while Lydia sits herself on the edge of the bed, letting her true exhaustion from the day’s activities show. Her face becomes blank as if mentally, she isn’t present. Allison calls to her from the bathroom,

“So D.C is pretty cool! I have never seen so many statues in one place before. The Vietnam Women’s Memorial was one of my favorite surprises today. What about you boo?”

Lydia doesn’t respond, her eyes looking far into the distance. Allison recognizes the expression coupled with the exhaustion as something Lydia experienced years ago when they tried staying at a sketchy motel with the track team. She approaches and kneels by Lydia’s side cautiously.

“Lydia? Lydia! Are you okay?”

Lydia blinks slowly, allowing her eyes to adjust and come back into focus. She continues to look straight ahead when she speaks in a quiet tone.

“There is so much death here…”

Realization dawns on Allison at that moment. She reaches forward and takes Lydia’s hand into hers, squeezing it to bring attention to her.

“Boo, we didn’t have to stay if it was too much for you. Fuck. This must be like one huge fucking cemetery for you. We don’t even have to stay the night, we can leave right now.”

“I wanted to prove that I could do it; that I am getting stronger. I don’t think I am.”

“You don’t have to prove shit to me, boo. Especially if it risks your health. You have always been one of the strongest people I know and you are always brave for others. Come on, let’s go. I am even packed already?”

Lydia turns to look at her, exhaustion etched in all the lines on her face. Tears silently fall down her cheeks from being tired and frustrated at her own limitations as she offers a watery smile to Allison.

“Thanks babe, but can I shower first? I feel pretty disgusting.”

Allison leans forward and kisses her forehead gingerly before standing up, bringing Lydia’s hand with her. Lydia sways slightly on her feet but Allison catches her around her waist, smiling back.

“Yeah, of course. I can help you shower?”

“I’d like that.”

Even with the combined background knowledge of what happens when two people share a shower from multiple porn viewings, nothing quite compares to how intimate and vulnerable it is between the two of them when they have lowered guards and no other motive besides to become clean.

Lydia slips out of her shoes as Allison slowly unzips her dress then unhooks her bra. She turns around so that Lydia can return the favor, her fingers gently linger on Allison’s shoulders as she helps ease the dress off. Allison helps steady Lydia so she can step out of her dress and underwear, holds her arm still as Lydia lifts her legs into the shower. Once under the shower head, Lydia closes her eyes to roll her head back and just lets the warm water wash over her, relaxing her muscles from head to toe. Her eyes open slowly, water droplets on her eyelashes, when Allison opens the shower door to join her. Allison gives her a shy smile as she steps towards her under the streams of water, reaching for the washcloth.

It suddenly dawns on Lydia that she has never been completely naked in front of Allison in full light before and the thought makes a blush rise to her cheeks. When Allison’s arm grazes hers as she reaches for the soap, it sends a chill up her spine. She returns Allison’s shy smile, reaching up to touch her face. She leans in slowly and presses a chaste kiss against Allison’s lips. Allison pulls back to lick the water off her lips before returning for a deeper kiss, allowing the water to wash over both of them. Slowly, she begins to scrub the washcloth over Lydia’s hips and up her stomach as she kisses her softly under the water. Lydia sighs into Allison’s mouth as she scrubs over her boobs, teasing her nipples with a slight pinch.

They break apart so Allison can clean Lydia’s neck and back, her fingers burning trails down Lydia’s skin as she starts working her way down Lydia’s body. Lydia feels as though she is on display when Allison looks up at her from under her lashes while she gingerly washes Lydia’s feet. There is a fond look in Allison’s eyes when Lydia giggles at the tickle from the washcloth which calms Lydia inner turmoil. Even though this is the most open she has ever felt, more open than when she returned the key to Jackson when he was half kanima half boy, she doesn’t find herself minding because she trusts Allison.

Lydia reaches down for the washcloth and pulls Allison back up into a kiss. She takes a turn scrubbing the grime from a day of touristing in the D.C summer heat off of Allison’s neck and chest. They spend the next couple of minutes with nothing but the white noise of the water hitting the basin and their hands exploring the curves and grooves of each other’s skin. It builds a low level of arousal in the pit of Lydia’s stomach that makes her skin feel tingly and extra sensitive. Allison moves back into Lydia’s space to kiss her deeply while she turns off the water. When she pulls back, Lydia’s eyes are slightly hooded so Allison gives her one last peck before leaving the shower to grab them both towels.

Allison wraps Lydia in a towel when she steps out of the shower, kissing her softly on the lips one more time.

“Once you are dressed, we can leave this political place far behind us.  
You good?”

Lydia blushes, realizing how similar Allison’s words sound to the ones she had muttered just the other day when they were in New York City. She recognizes that Allison isn’t mocking her, rather showing that they can take care of each other; she shows her gratitude with a wide smile.

“Absolutely.  
Thanks babe.”

Allison puts her arms around Lydia’s waist to pull her in close; she kisses the top of her forehead before giving her a small sweet smile.

“Anytime boo, anytime.”

[ ](roadtrippers.com/trips/escape-plan/52629ec2c2720c51c6001672)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ps. I am a poster child for why you should wait before you reread your work so you will capture more mistakes. Sorry! I am just rereading and editing it now...


	11. Q.U.E.E.N.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter! Thanks for putting up with me thus far!

[ ](www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/tagged/SaTW)

Allison and Lydia are only about halfway between Lover’s Leap at Rock City and Birmingham, Alabama, when their tire pops on a dusty back road that looks like it is only frequented by locals. Lydia grumbles about the dangers of driving fast over rocky roads as she pulls out her cell phone to call AAA for a tow. Allison shakes her head as she gets out of the car, she calls to Lydia as she examines the deflated front tire.

“First of all, we ran over a screw which is why the tire deflated. Second, you don’t need to call AAA, I got this.”

This peaks Lydia’s interest enough to ignore the slight embarrassment at being wrong. Lydia raises her eyebrow as she locks her phone before stepping out of the car to join Allison. She crosses her arms over her chest as she too surveys the deflated tire..

“You know what you’re doing?”

Allison rolls her eyes at the sound of disbelief in Lydia’s voice. She walks to the trunk of the car and begins to rearrange their bags to get to the bottom panel of the trunk.

“Of course I do. I just need to make sure I have an actual tire in here and not just a donut...”

“There is no way we have a tire in that trunk…”

Lydia quips as she walks over, curious as to how with all of their things, a tire could also manage to fit. Allison successfully opens the bottom panel to reveal a new tire. She grins to herself as she starts removing all the pieces necessary for the task at hand.

“Remember how you mentioned that since we are going on a road trip we should get new tires for the car? Well I told my dad and he talked to your mom about it and they split the costs. I also hinted that a 5th backup tire might come in handy-Glad they listened!”

“Good thinking on your part. Now I’ll really be impressed if you can get it on.”

Allison takes the car jack and the bag of tools out of the car, setting them by the deflated tire. She returns to lug the extra tire out of the trunk before crouching in front of the tire and tilting her head as she examines it.

“I haven’t done this recently, so bear with me.”

Now it is Lydia’s turn to roll her eyes, uncrossing her arms as she makes her way towards Allison. She rests her back against the car door, smoothing her skirt out against her thighs to prevent the hot metal of the car from burning her delicate skin. Crossing one arm along her chest, she watches Allison attack the situation with a fierce sense of determination. Lydia’s eyes travel down Allison’s face, over the back of her white t-shirt that is becoming a little see through from the sweat gathering on the back of her neck caused by the Alabama heat. Lydia’s eyes roam lower over the accented curve of Allison’s ass in teal shorts. She becomes starts becoming aroused just by watching her beautiful girlfriend fix the tire on the car.

They maintain a comfortable silence as Allison steadily works on removing and replacing the tire while Lydia watches her work, her mind filling with different scenarios that all end in having sex with Allison against the car. The sound of another car on the dirt road brings Lydia out of her fantasies, she narrows her eyes at the young man that steps out of the pick up truck, admiring Allison’s ass with an obvious once over glance.

“You ladies need any help?”

Lydia crosses both arms across her chest now, suddenly on the defense. Her voice comes out clipped and annoyed when she responds to him.

“No. We are almost done.”

Allison chuckles lightly at Lydia from her place on the ground as she continues to tighten the screws back into the new tire. The man puts his hands up in front of him, the universal innocent gesture.

“Don’t mean trouble. I just thought I’d ask. It isn’t always safe for two beautiful girls like yourselves to be on dirt roads when it’s almost night time.”

“Well it isn’t safe to leave nails on the road either...”

Lydia quips back just as Allison stands up, wiping the grease off her hands on the rag she was kneeling on from the tool bag. She beams at the the man while Lydia maintains her harsh glare.

“Thanks for offering to help but we are all set. Unless you happen to know a place that I could drop off a flat tire? We’re just driving through so we’re not familiar with the area.”

“I figured as much; you guys don’t look like locals. My cousin owns a repair shop, I can take it off your hands if you want.”

“That’d be perfect! Thank you!”

Allison says as she clasps her hands together. She helps put the tire in his trunk and waves as he drives away. She walks back to where Lydia is still leaning on the car, standing in front of Lydia as she wipes the sweat off her forehead with her forearm. Lydia uncrosses her arms and widens her stance just a little so Allison can stand between her legs.

“So you were just peaches…”

Lydia’s arms return to their crossed position over her chest, preparing to be defensive for the second time that hour at Allison’s words. She looks down at the tool bag still on the ground to avoid Allison’s critical gaze.

“He was creepy and blatantly checked you out while you were changing the tire when he first drove up.”

“Were you checking me out?”

Allison’s questions surprises Lydia, she snaps her head back up to look at Allison, whose face is much closer now than it was a moment ago.

“Yes.”

Lydia replies slightly breathless as a blush rises in her cheeks, watching Allison bite down on her lower lip. Lydia’s eyes trace Allison’s movements, barely noticing her close the distance between them is. Her eyes flit back up to Allison’s, suddenly turned on by the smug expression she sees there.

“Good cause you are the only ten-I-see.”

Allison responds as she kisses Lydia when she starts laughing loud and open at her terrible pick up line. Her tongue silences Lydia’s comment about not even being in Tennessee any more when her hands reach up to hold Lydia’s face in just the right tilt to deepen the kiss. Lydia’s hands scramble for purchase on Allison’s hips, pulling them flush against hers. Her hands travel up under Allison’s shirt, eager to touch skin. The thin layer of sweat on Allison’s lower back turns her on more; the thought that one of her earlier fantasies might become a reality makes her digs her nails into the soft skin of Allison’s back in an attempt to bring her even closer. The movement jostles Allison a little and she releases one of her hands from Lydia’s hair to catch herself on the car. Lydia’s immediately lips trail down Allison’s jawline to her neck in the new angle. The hot metal of the car under her palm makes Allison wince causing Lydia to pull back from the hickey she was working on to Allison’s collarbone. She looks a little sheepish as she watches Allison’s face from under her eyelashes.

“Too hot?”

“Yeah, sorry boo. That totally killed the mood, didn’t it?”

“A little but we should probably get back on the road anyway since we are behind schedule now.”

“Next time boo, next time.”

Not even a full day later, when they are walking back to their car after eating some of the best gumbo that can be found in a small shack in New Orleans and playfully arguing about whether the tears from Lydia’s eyes are from the spice or dirt, Allison doesn’t think twice when she starts heading towards a lady that looks like she is having a rough day. She is holding a crying baby in one arm while the other hand holds one handle of a tool bag that a little boy no older than seven is holding the other handle to. Lydia stops slightly in her movements when she notices that they are not heading towards their car,

“Allison, the car is not this way.”

“Yeah, but that woman is having car troubles. I just want to see if we can help her out.”

Allison approaches the woman from the side with her warmest smile already in place. Lydia follows close behind her, watching the interaction with mild curiosity. The baby in the woman’s arms is the first to notice their arrival. It’s cries calm down slightly as it regards the new arrivals with big wary eyes.

“Hey there, having some car troubles?”

The woman turns to look at Allison and Lydia, her glance a little apprehensive. The little boy next to her hides behind her leg, suddenly shy.

“Yes but unless you can change a tire, I do not need your help.”

Lydia didn’t even think it was possible for Allison’s smile to become any brighter but it does as she nods her head enthusiastically.

“Actually I do! I just changed ours the other day after we ran over a nail in Alabama. I can give you a hand to change yours if you want!”

The woman’s sharp gaze doesn’t waver a bit under Allison’s smile. Whatever she sees in Allison and Lydia’s face she must approve of because she relaxes slightly, letting her shoulder slump forward as her eyes soften a little.

“I would appreciate that.”

“If you want to help me get the tire out of your trunk, Lydia over there is great with kids and would love to hold your beautiful baby.”

Lydia’s eyes go wide at that comment; she heatedly whispers to Allison in a voice that is plenty loud for the woman to hear.

“Allison! I don’t interact with kids! Especially not babies!”

The woman tilts her head, as if amused by this conversation, while asking.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”  
“No!”

Allison and Lydia both blurt out at the same time. When Lydia sees the pleading look in Allison’s eyes, she sighs knowing that she lost this fight already.

“Yes, I would love to hold your fragile precious baby.”

The woman raises her eyebrow at Lydia’s comment while Allison starts walking back towards the trunk of the car. She approaches Lydia slowly like she is a wild animal that might dart at any moment. Lydia’s eyes turn away from Allison quickly as the woman approaches with the baby bundled tight in her arms. The woman gently places the baby into Lydia’s arms, waits a moment to gauge the baby’s reaction before turning to help Allison.

Two beautiful wide brown eyes gaze up at Lydia from a round face framed by tight black curls. A bead of sweat rolls down the baby’s dark skin that Lydia wipes away with a corner of the blanket, opening it up a little to give the baby more air. The big toothless grin the baby gives her makes her heart melt a little in that Louisiana heat. Lydia taps the baby’s cute nose, drawing a surprised giggle from the baby. That sound sells Lydia to the dark side: babies are cute. The baby grabs her finger and squeezes gently. Lydia smiles back at the little bundle of happiness in her arms. The woman looks over at them with a relaxed smile on her face as she closes the trunk up after removing the tire. The sweat glistens on her dark skin as she lifts the tire from the ground and carries it to where Allison is jacking the car up.

“She likes you.”

“Of course she does, why shouldn’t she?”

Lydia retorts while she waves her finger around as the baby girl in her arms tries to catch it again. The woman chuckles at Lydia’s response while handing Allison the wrench. Lydia doesn’t even look up when she asks her next question,

“What’s her name?”

“Veronique. Though my other sister calls her V; she can’t say everyone’s name yet. And I’m Ali. My momma’s name is Imani. What’s your name?”

Lydia looks down at the source of the response, a curious little boy with big brown eyes just like his baby sister has edged closer. His hand plays with the tassel on the purse hanging off her shoulder. He stops when he realizes that he is being watched now, a blush forms on his dark cheeks. Lydia smiles warmly to him.

“My name is Lydia and that girl helping your momma is my best friend in the whole world, Allison.”

Allison looks over at them when her name is mentioned, her expression going fond, her eyes crinkling at the corners at the adorable sight that greets her eyes. She smiles to herself as she continues to remove the tire.

“My best friends in the whole world is my cousin Tre and my momma. Oh and my dad!”

Ali’s eyes go even wider as he looks up into Lydia’s face, leaning closer he whispers,

“You won’t tell him that I almost forgot him, right? Promise?”

Lydia laughs when Veronique’s tiny fist latches onto one of her curls that falls forward as she rocks her back and forth in her arm. Lydia calms her face into a serious one when she returns her attention to Ali. She offers her hand, pinky out to him.

“I pinky promise I won’t tell.”

Ali crosses his pinky with hers and grins a big smile, some of his teeth missing which causes Lydia to smile right back in response. Allison stands up, wiping her hands on a spare napkin as she walks over to where Lydia is with baby Veronique.

“All set Imani! The spare should hold you until you can get to somewhere for a new tire.  
How’s this pretty lady doing?”

Allison says as she stand next to Ali in front of Lydia. Lydia looks up at her, beaming with pride at her ability to successfully hold a small infant and not have it burst into tears. Allison leans her forehead against Lydia’s while they both peer down at the baby.

“Oh she is so cute. Look at her cheeks!”

Imani comes over to them and Lydia begrudgingly holds Veronique out to give back to her mother. She returns her now empty hands by her side and Allison takes her hand in hers. Imani smiles at the two of them as she holds her hand out for Ali to grab.

“Thanks again, I appreciate the helping hand.  
You guys are really lucky to have each other.”

Allison blushes, slightly trying to conceal it by hiding her head behind Lydia’s shoulder. Lydia squeezes her hand in reassurance as she replies.

“We know. Have a good life! Bye Veronique! Bye Ali!”

Ali waves out the window from his seat. Allison and Lydia wave back in unison.

“Bye Lydia and her best friend in the whole wide world!”

Lydia chuckles at his words while Imani pulls away, leaving Allison and Lydia alone in that section of the parking lot. Lydia turns her head to ask Allison a question but the expression on Allison’s face makes her pause. Allison is looking at her as if she is trying to catalogue every single detail in her face because she wants to remember this moment forever. She looks open and incredibly fond of the person under her scrutiny: Lydia. Lydia smiles shyly, her voice barely above a whisper in their close proximity.

“What? Do I have baby spit on me or something?”

“You know you’re my best friend in the whole wide world too, right?”

Lydia bites her bottom lip gently as she slowly nods her head yes, watching Allison’s eyes move to her lips. Allison kisses her softly before pulling away to look back into Lydia’s eyes. Her expression a little more serious when she confesses in a gentle whisper,

“You were in my nightmare.”

Lydia’s eyebrows scrunch together as she absorbs this new piece of information, she nods her head in understanding. Adding another piece to the puzzle of that night they left New York City. She knows Allison doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, just wanted to share what she was ready to say. She likes to go at her own pace; when she is ready. Lydia stands on her tip toes to kiss Allison’s forehead in acknowledgment of her confession as well as a silent thank you, before pulling her by the hand towards the car.

“Come on, let’s go get some rest. We have a long couple of days ahead of us.”

  


[ ](www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com/tagged/SaTW)

“I still can’t believe that you rode that mechanical bull for almost two minutes! I swear you could have gone longer; the operator was just pissed that you were doing well.”

Allison laughs in response to Lydia as she ducks to avoid a tree branch in front of her. Walking in the Texas heat under trees is a whole different temperature than being at a rodeo or someplace with no shade. It is still hot but not so hot that Allison feels like she is drowning in her own sweat. A teasing smile is on her lips when she turns her head to look at Lydia.

“Someone must be pretty pissed themselves about the whole thing since they’ve mentioned it about five times now…”

“Well I just think they jipped you of the title you deserved!”

“You just wanted me to win the title.”

“Because you deserved it!”

Lydia responds, blushing at how clearly Allison can see through her argument. Allison shakes her head at Lydia’s antics, reaching her arm out to steady Lydia when she stumbles on a root for the fourth time in the past hour of their hike.

“You were the one that suggested that we go for a hike since we haven’t really been outdoors much the past couple of days… And I know you are really excited about the cowboy boots we just bought but you didn’t have to wear them on our hike.”

“Well I wanted to break them in since they are new. This hike is just a little harder to walk than I thought it would be. But, we should almost be there.”

Allison’s eyebrows pulls forward in confusion at Lydia’s continued vagueness of their final destination.

“Where is there exactly?”

“Oh you’ll see.”

Lydia responds with a wink as she continues walking in front of Allison, leading the way to this mystery spot. Allison hears the sound of rushing water before she sees its source because there is a dense grouping of trees ahead. Once they are finally pass through the thick trees and bushes, Lydia finally stops and spreads her arms out wide.

“Ta da!”

While Lydia may have a weakness for hard to solve math equations and fashionable shoes, Allison’s weakness is archery bows and waterfalls. The beauty of them simply takes her breath away as it does every time she sees one. This waterfall is practically a baby compared to Niagara Falls with water falling from a height of about six feet into a deep lagoon that becomes a more shallow river further from the sight of the waterfall. There are large rocks in the sun with lush green bushes making the place look like a true oasis. The best part of all is the fact that there is no one else around.  
Allison turns back to Lydia’s proud smile, watching her as she removes her backpack then unzips her cowboy boots.

“Lydia, what are you doing?”

“I’m going swimming of course.”

“I didn’t bring my bathing suit...”

“Neither did I.”

There is a mischievous twinkle in her eye coupled with a devious smirk that means Lydia has a brilliant solution.

“Let’s go skinny dipping.”

Allison blushes at the idea of being naked in a national park, but her eyes trail Lydia’s chest as she lifts her shirt off.

“Lydia, we are in a national park! What if people come?”

“Do you see or hear anyone around? If someone does come then we politely leave. Come on, you’ve always said that you wanted to.”

Lydia unbuttons and removes her shorts as she talks, standing in just her underwear and bra now. Allison blatantly checks her out from head to toe before grinning as she quickly rids herself of her shirt and toes off her shoes.

“Alright, fine. But if we get in trouble, you have the honor of explaining it to my father.”

“I think it’d be worth it.”

Lydia replies as she finishes unhooking her bra and steps out of her underwear, leaving them in a pile by her backpack. She slowly climbs down the rocks into the water, Allison watches the curve of her ass walks away. Lydia hisses when she first makes contact but keeps going until she is in up to her thighs.

“Fuck, it’s cold babe.”

Allison takes that statement as a challenge as she hurries to finish removing all of her clothes and undergarments. She follows behind Lydia down the rocks into the water but barrels past her towards the deeper water. She dives down to fully submerge herself before resurfacing. Lydia hasn’t moved an inch, but is looking at Allison like she is absolutely crazy. Allison grins as she swims on her back, simply stay afloat.

“This standoff is looking oddly reminiscent of the Olympic Peninsula except this water is way warmer...”

Lydia’s eyes go wide at the memory, she crosses her arms across her chest in defiance as she edges closer.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Oh I would-”

Allison responds as Lydia bends down and splashes water at her, earning her a mouthful of water. She laughs as she stands up in the shallower section of the water and splashes Lydia back, aiming for her hair but backing away at the same time to avoid more water in the mouth. Lydia follows her, slowly getting deeper into the water before she gets close enough to tackle Allison. Allison lifts her head out of the water, smiling wide at Lydia as she fully rests her body on top of hers.

“This also reminds me of the Olympic Peninsula.”

Lydia grins at that remark, sliding up Allison’s body slightly. Boxing Allison in with one arm on the ground on either side of her head, her thigh slips in between Allison’s legs and gently pushes against her clit. Allison’s mouth drops open in surprise at the clear physical reminder that they are very much naked right now. She watches Allison’s pupils dilate as Lydia’s nipples brush against her when she leans down, hovering over Allison’s lips.

“Yeah, but I like this outcome so much more.”

Lydia kisses Allison, taking her breath away for the second time in the past fifteen minutes. She pulls Allison’s bottom lip in between her teeth, playfully biting it before running her tongue over the bites. Allison surges up, tangling one hand in Lydia’s hair to pull her closer and the other cups Lydia’s boob, giving the nipple little squeezes just to hear the soft sighs Lydia makes. She licks into Lydia’s mouth, enjoying the reaction she gets from Lydia when she grinds down on Allison’s body in response.  
They both pull away, gasping for a breath. Lydia’s pupils dilated, making her arousal obvious as she stands up away from Allison. She gestures to the waterfall itself with her head before swimming towards it, a playful smile on her face. Allison gives into the chase, swimming fast to beat Lydia to the waterfall. When Lydia surfaces, Allison surges forward cupping her cheek in one hand while while carefully pushing her against the rock wall. Her feet find purchase on shallower ground as her other hand holds Lydia flush against her body, She kisses her with the filthiest kiss she has given someone, all tongue and little finesse, simply eager to taste her on her lips.

Lydia moans at the kiss, turned on by Allison’s blatant desire for her. She kisses her back just as passionately, her hand massages Allison’s boob while the other roams down her body. Allison catches on to Lydia’s plan and breaks the kiss to nod enthusiastically while she bites her lip, so turned on by Lydia’s touch that she is barely able to form sentences. The low level arousal build up from the past couple of days making itself apparent in both of them with this free moment to themselves.

“Yes. Fuck. Lydia. Please.”

Lydia throws her head back, hitting the wall lightly as she moans in response to Allison’s begging. She grinds her hips against Allison’s, looking for relief.

“Fuck. Babe.”

Allison’s mouth finds Lydia’s again, kissing her hard and demanding. She teases Lydia’s tongue into her mouth just as Lydia’s hand slides over the hair on Allison’s crotch. She lets out a soft moan onto Lydia’s lips when Lydia’s fingers gently pinch Allison’s clit then start rubbing. Her other hand pinches Allison’s nipple, encouraging her to grind her clit down into Lydia’s hand. Allison tries to keep her moans quiet by sucking on Lydia’s tongue but one hard pinch from both hands has Allison throwing her back in pure pleasure. Lydia refocuses her efforts by sucking a hickey onto Allison’s collarbone. She can tell Allison is close by the soft grunts she is making and how hard she is biting down on her bottom lip, so she bites Allison’s neck as she slips two fingers into Allison’s vagina successfully bringing Allison to the edge. As she orgasms, her vagina tightens around Lydia’s two fingers as do her legs around Lydia’s leg, she doesn’t hold back the moan that spills from her lips either.

When she comes back from her orgasm high, Lydia is grinning smugly at her. Allison kisses the smug smile off her face, playfully biting Lydia’s lips. Both of her hands go to Lydia’s nipples, alternating between pinching and rubbing them. Allison pulls away from Lydia’s mouth to suck on her nipple until it hardens under her tongue. Lydia’s hands fly to Allison’s head to pull her mouth in closer, her hips grinding her clit down on Allison’s thigh. One of Allison’s hands stop massaging Lydia’s boob, instead it rubs down her stomach to tease her. Lydia throws her head back as a pleased moan escapes her lips at the direct attention that is being paid to her swollen and sensitive clit. Allison follows Lydia’s lead, putting two fingers into Lydia’s vagina while her thumb continues to rub against her clit. Lydia hisses out a moan when Allison playfully bites down on her nipple, causing her to grind down on Allison’s fingers for more pressure. Knowing that Lydia is close to her orgasm, Allison starts to fuck Lydia with two of her fingers while sucking harder on Lydia’s nipple. She watches Lydia’s face from under her lashes in fascination. Lydia orgasms the moment Allison bites her neck in retaliation of earlier, to suck her own hickey onto Lydia. She slowly removes her fingers from Lydia’s vagina but she doesn’t stop sucking at the bruise until Lydia laughs, shoving her head away while muttering vampire. She pulls back as they grin stupidly at each other, exchanging soft lazy kisses. Allison regards Lydia with that same fond expression she seems to be wearing of late. Her face becomes slightly more serious as she closes her eyes and leans her forehead against Lydia’s.

“I didn’t protect you in my nightmare.”

Lydia gently nudges her head against Allison’s, forcing her to open her eyes.

“Hey, babe. You won’t always be able to protect me. And that is okay.”

Allison nods, feeling the burden of holding the secret behind her nightmare lift off her shoulders at her second quiet confession. Suddenly, she hears voices that seems to be getting closer. She pushes off the wall with a giggle as she starts swimming towards their clothes.

“Let’s go boo, sounds like we might have company!”

  


[ ](http://s41.photobucket.com/user/rongranger12/media/Fanfiction%20Graphics/SATW/Chap11-insta2_zps3ae01cb4.png.html)

  
Allison and Lydia are driving away from Las Vegas with a feeling of disappointment; as if the city let them down for not being everything it was hyped up to be. The feeling hangs obvious in the air between them in the car. Allison shrugs to herself, feeling the need to support the wild city.

“Maybe it was because we saw it in daylight?”

“Maybe. It was still very pretty in a showy kind of way…”

“Maybe it’s because we are not 21 yet so we couldn’t really do much?”

“Yeah that must be it. We’ll have to revisit it in three years to get the full experience.”

Allison turns her head to smile at Lydia,

“Sounds like a date! Let’s road trip back in three years.”

Lydia playfully rolls her eyes at the notion of already planning another road trip when they haven’t even finished the one they are on currently.

“I’m into it.”

Allison’s eyes go wide and she grips the steering wheel tight, it sets Lydia up on the edge of her seat, alert for whatever Allison is about to say.

“Shit. I just realized something.”

“What?”

“We haven’t finished your playlist yet!”

Lydia slumps back into her seat, relaxed at the lack of urgency in the task. A soft smile appears on her face because Allison not only remember her playlist but noticed its lack of playing in the car trip thus far. Lydia plugs her Ipod into the auxiliary cord of the car before settling back into her seat.

“I’ll play it now then.”

After Young and Beautiful finishes playing, the car becomes comfortably silent. A few minutes pass before Allison speaks up.

"Boo, was that playlist made entirely of female artists?"

"No. Timbaland was featured on there and David Guetta technically is one of the artists even though Sia does all the singing."

"Lydia…"

"Okay. Yes. I just thought that we could use a good and complete detox from all the testosterone we are bombarded with back in Beacon Hills. Men are awesome but women are just as awesome! We are strong, smart, and powerful! I just felt like after everything, we could use a reminder."

Allison looks over at Lydia driving, with a fond smile once again on her lips.

"No, I completely understand. You’re my best friend for a reason. I appreciate it."

Allison reaches across the center console as she says this and squeezes Lydia’s hand gently on the steering wheel. A small private smile crosses Lydia’s lips as she immediately relaxes in response, knowing that whatever happens at the very least she will have Allison. And for now, that is all she needs.

[ ](https://roadtrippers.com/trips/escape-plan/52629ec2c2720c51c6001672)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I feel like the sex is awkward and I'm sorry I'm bad at writing it! Maybe I just feel awkward. xoxo)


	12. She Keeps Me Warm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit. Wow. Shit. I can't even believe this. Never did I think I would be writing a full length fanfic never mind one that people actually like to read! It blows my mind on a regular basis that there are people out there that have been following this story along and (hopefully!) enjoying it!
> 
> I appreciate every single one of your comments, kudos, and readers so much! I am so so sooo grateful and you should check me out on [tumblr!](www.melbopo.tumblr.com)
> 
> Once again, I can't thank you all enough for sticking with me through this. I hope you enjoy this last chapter in their adventure!

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com)

“You know, I don’t think I will ever get tired of national parks.”

Whatever residual annoyance leftover from Allison and Lydia’s morning argument over the day’s schedule drains from Allison at Lydia’s words. Even though they haven’t exchanged a word on their nine mile hike so far, Allison pushes all the negative thoughts to the back of her mind to share this moment with Lydia. The sun is starting to set on the other side of the valley, casting a beautiful golden light over the trees, rivers, and plants below them.

Allison walks up behind where Lydia stands with her hands on her hips, looking out into the distance. Allison hugs Lydia from behind, wrapping her arms around her stomach. She rests her head on Lydia’s shoulder, whispers in her ear,

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean Yosemite National Park is our, what? Eight national park in the past three weeks? And not a single one has disappointed me.”

“Each one beautiful in their own way.”

“Yeah… yeah they are.”

“Just like you.”

Allison replies before planting a kiss on Lydia’s cheek. Lydia turns her neck to look into Allison’s face, a rare soft expression on her face that only happens when she realizes she was wrong.

“I’m sorry I tried to plan our whole day today. You were right, taking our time has been really nice.”

Allison hums her approval into Lydia’s ear,

“Apology accepted. I’m glad it worked out; today has been nice. It’s always nice when I get to spend time with you.”

Sadness flickers over Lydia’s features but she’s pressing her lips to Allison’s with a bruising kiss that has a gentle brush of tongue (which is quickly become Allison’s latest addiction), before Allison can fully identify the change in expression.

“Let’s go find our campsite for the night babe.”

They continue to walk around Yosemite park at a leisurely pace, holding hands and talking about whatever random things they see or that come to mind. After about half an hour, the sun is almost completely set, the sky a dark blue to pink gradient with dozens of stars. Lydia works on starting the fire while Allison sets up the tent. Successful in her task, Lydia retrieves the sleeping bags. She walks over carrying both bags in her arms when Allison erupts into laughter, the tent only partially assembled behind her. Lydia drops the sleeping bags into the open flap of the tent. She kneels down next to where Allison is trying to coerce a pipe into the right position to support the front of the tent.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m struggling with this last part! The pipe just fucking hit me in the face! I refuse to let it beat me- literally and figuratively.”

Lydia simply raises an eyebrow at Allison’s competitive antics against an inanimate object, a smile teases its way onto her lips as Allison’s swears increase with her frustration. Once the pipe finally cooperates, Allison cheers at her success briefly before speaking,

“Well that was…”

“In tents?”

Lydia supplies to Allison when she pauses to come up with the right word. Lydia isn’t even trying to hide her knowing smirk at the terrible pun. Allison turns to looks at her, surprise at Lydia’s casual joke obvious in the way her eyes widen slightly and her mouth drops into a perfect “o” shape. Then Allison throws her head back with delighted laughter at the god awful pun, unable to restrain herself as the laughter echoes through her lips, shakes down her neck and shoulders. Lydia’s smile only grows more as Allison laughs, entranced by the carefree sound and knowing that she is the cause of it. Her eyes trail down Allison’s open and amused face, her extended neck, the “v” in her shirt that accents her boobs perfectly and then back up to her face, suddenly extremely turned on by Allison’s infectious happiness.

Lydia moves in closer to Allison as her laughter is starting to die down; she pauses only inches from Allison’s lips, her eyes waiting for Allison’s to see her. Allison opens her eyes, cheeks flushed pink from her laughter, a smile still on her lips. She licks her bottom lip, biting it gently just to watch from this close proximity the way Lydia’s eyes dilate in response. Allison’s “what” barely escapes her mouth before Lydia closes the distance with a kiss that knocks Allison off balance, falling backwards into the open tent flap. Lydia follows after her, continuing to kiss down her neck. The toppling into the tent elicits another chuckle out of Allison as she lands onto the sleeping bags, Lydia chases the sound from Allison’s lips. 

Allison immediately catches onto the mood of the kiss; it’s hungry, desperate and a little rough as if the frustrated energy from this morning still hasn’t dissipated between them. The feeling translates to her as she rolls Lydia over so she can be on top, grinding her hips down onto Lydia’s as she makes quick work of removing her shirt. Lydia hastily removes hers before returning her hands to Allison’s chest. Her hands are just as eager as her lips on Allison’s skin, always flinting from one place to the next as if she can’t get enough of the way she feels, constantly moving up and down Allison’s back only pausing momentarily when Allison unhooks her own bra. Allison leans down, sealing her mouth over Lydia’s to lick filthily into her mouth causing a small shudder to pass through Lydia as her hands become more desperate on Allison’s skin.

One of Lydia’s hands makes its way down Allison’s back and under her shorts to grab Allison’s smooth round ass, kneading it roughly in her hand causing Allison to buck forward slightly, her exposed sensitive nipples rubbing over the rougher texture of Lydia’s lacy bra. Allison pulls away from Lydia’s bitten lips to moan at the sensation from the contrast, her hips grinding down harder on Lydia’s, her hands on either side of Lydia’s head above her shoulders. Lydia’s other hand settles on Allison’s head, her fingers digging into Allison’s scalp bringing her lips back to hers for a wet kiss that is more tongue and teeth than actual lips. Allison moves her hand to grab Lydia’s boobs through the lacy bra, rubbing the material over Lydia’s nipple. She breaks away from their kiss when Lydia moans, Allison’s mouth leaves biting kisses down Lydia’s jaw then her throat, the sensitive spot near the ear, over her collarbone, before finally reaching Lydia’s boobs. She licks Lydia’s nipple through the fabric, reveling in the reaction it draws from Lydia, moaning and writhing for more friction between her legs. Lydia’s arm lets go of Allison’s ass, settling for a tight grip on her upper thigh instead.

Allison’s hand snakes down Lydia’s stomach as she bites and licks one of Lydia’s nipples until it is tender and hard under the damp lacy bra. Allison’s hand goes under Lydia’s underwear and between her legs, gentling applying the much desired pressure to Lydia’s clit. Her fingers travel a little further down, feeling how wet Lydia’s vagina is. The thought that she has that kind of power over Lydia turns her on even more, a smug smirk on her lips as she looks at Lydia’s flush face from under her lashes, her mouth just inches from Lydia’s chest. She blows air over the wet lacy bra at the same time that she slips a finger into her vagina. Lydia inhales sharply, her back arching off the ground at the feeling, her nails digging into Allison’s thigh and edging her on. Allison slides a second finger in, amazed at how easily her fingers moveThe words tumble out of Allison’s mouth in between her rough bites on Lydia’s neglected nipple:

“God Lydia, you are so fucking beautiful. So beautifully wet for me.”

Allison works in a third finger, finding the angle difficult to properly fuck into Lydia’s vagina even though Lydia’s hips are rocking down on her fingers slightly. Allison’s words reigniting the desperation in Lydia as she reaches down to pull Allison's mouth back up to hers. Her tongue demanding entrance to Allison’s mouth as her hands skirt back into Allison’s shorts and under her underwear to grab her ass again. The filthy kiss completely distracts Allison from her task of fucking Lydia, which has become nearly impossible with her body this close to Lydia’s. She removes her now wet fingers from Lydia’s from between Lydia’s legs. Allison realizes that she has never tasted a girl’s cum, not even her own. The idea excites her as she leans back away from Lydia who whines subconsciously at the movement. Allison adjusts herself to be resting back on her butt, her thighs straddling Lydia’s.

Lydia’s hand immediately begins to unbutton Allison’s shorts now that it has the proper opportunity to. Her hand slows when she realizes what Allison is about to do, her mouth drops open and her eyes hungrily drink in the unforgettably attractive sight currently in front of her: a topless Allison straddling her legs, one hand tossing her curls back while the other hand, glistening with Lydia’s cum on its fingers, approaches red swollen lips. Lydia is transfixed under Allison’s unwavering and confident gaze. Allison takes a finger into her mouth, humming at the taste of Lydia on her tongue as she unconsciously squeezes her thighs on Lydia’s thigh. The squeeze brings Lydia jarring back to the moment, she quickly and roughly rolls them back over again so she is on top. The force of changing positions knocks the breath out of Allison, reminding her of Lydia’s strength but before she can make a comment Lydia’s mouth is on hers, demanding all of her brain power. Lydia breaks away from the kiss to look down at Allison.

“Fuck, you are so beautiful.”

Suddenly Allison feels two things at once: Lydia’s finger curling up into her vagina and Lydia’s mouth swallowing over two of Allison’s fingers. Allison’s other hand scrambles for a good grip in Lydia’s hair when her back arches in pure pleasure, feeling Lydia’s tongue swirl in between her fingers. She shameless moans at thoughts of where else she would like that tongue to be. She tugs at Lydia’s hair, crashing their mouths together in eagerness to taste Lydia on Lydia’s own tongue. She groans into Lydia’s mouth when Lydia fucks into her with three fingers, rubbing against Allison’s clit with her thumb. She feels Lydia’s smug smile against her lips when she licks into Lydia’s mouth, biting her bottom lip in retaliation. Lydia pulls back a couple of inches to bring her hand from Allison’s vagina, wet with her cum, to her mouth. She watches Allison’s reaction as she licks Allison’s cum off of her pointer finger, grinding her clit against Allison’s thigh while her other hand squeeze Allison’s boob. Allison hungrily takes Lydia’s fingers into her mouth when Lydia offers them, eagerly sucking her own cum from Lydia’s hand as Lydia squeezes Allison’s nipple between her fingers. 

Allison finally pulls off of Lydia’s fingers, pleased with her job, the heavy look in Lydia’s eyes turns her on with that rough, desperate, and almost primal desire to fuck each other, to get the other off as fast as possible. It’s practically an invitation to an orgasming competition and Allison doesn't like to lose. Allison’s hand goes for Lydia’s clit at the same time Lydia’s goes for hers, their mouth clash again as they fight for dominance in the kiss. Allison wins as she pinches Lydia’s clit, eliciting a surprised gasp which Allison takes as a small victory when she licks into Lydia’s open mouth. The kiss quickly dissolves into open mouth pants and moans as their motions become a slightly more desperate as they both approach their orgasm. Lydia climaxes first, her grip on Allison’s hip tight enough to leave behind bruises long after the high has worn off. But even her orgasm doesn’t stop her from the task at hand: getting Allison off. Her head drops to Allison’s neck to suck a deep hickey into the sensitive skin near Allison’s ear while her thigh grinds up against Allison’s clit. She keeps the rhythm of biting and applying a little more pressure until Allison’s grip on her ass tightens as does her thighs, when she finally climaxes with her back arching off the ground.

Lydia collapses next to her on the ground of the tent, the air is filled with the sound of their fast breathes returning to normal and crickets. Lydia chuckles softly to herself, Allison looks over at her, a grin already on her face at Lydia’s laugh,

“What?”

Lydia points in front of them to the front part of the tent that has fallen down again, her laughter a little louder now with amusement clear in her voice as she replies.

“So much for all your in tents work! We knocked it down.”

Allison rolls her eyes at Lydia’s terrible pun but finds herself laughing along with Lydia, her shoulder shaking against the ground of the tent. She sits up, rummaging through the closest backpack for a sweatshirt to throw on. Successful in finding one, she puts it on as she stands up, buttoning her shorts up. She kisses the top of Lydia’s head as she prepares to leave the tent. 

“How about you try to fix it while I cook us some dinner?”

Lydia grins up at her, smacking her butt slightly as she retreats out of the tent flaps. Laughing openly at the noise of surprise Allison makes. She reaches for a sweatshirt to join Allison outside to attempt to fix the tent.

Fifteen minutes later Lydia makes her way to Allison who is staring into the fire, her face scrunched in deep concentration as the grilled cheese sandwiches toast, the cheese oozing out of the aluminum foil. Lydia grins as she puts her arms around Allison’s waist from behind, resting her head on the side of Allison’s shoulder. She remarks teasingly,

“We switched sweatshirts…”

“Hmmm? Yeah we did.”

Allison responds, noncommittally. It sets something off in Lydia’s brain as she releases her hold on Allison to stand next to her and look into her face. Her face mimics Allison’s slightly as her eyebrows draw together in confusion at Allison’s distant gaze. She touches Allison’s arm gently as if to not spook her out of her current mind place,

“You good?”

Lydia’s voice is gentle and worried which seems to jolt Allison back into the present. She shakes her head slightly as her eyes begin to refocus. She removes the grilled cheese aluminum foils from the grill grate to cool down. Allison begins talking as she does this before suddenly she turns around to face Lydia head on, her voice and face betraying her anger.

“Absol-wait. No. I’m not good.”

Lydia’s face matches the concerned tone in her voice as she asks, “What’s wrong babe?”

“I can’t do this any more!”

Lydia’s face immediately falls at Allison’s words, the hurt and rejection she feels blatantly on display. The fear in the idea of Allison giving up on them, of losing this new and amazing thing they have, of losing her best friend in the whole wide world is enough to make her voice sound small and uncertain, shaking slightly as she asks another question.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t do this! I can’t just go around being all couple-ly with you when I know you are going to break up with me any day now! I don’t want to wait for that moment to happen, constantly being alert that this might be our last kiss or moment as a couple. I rather just go through it now than suffer through that.”

Allison’s words confuse Lydia even further, she shakes her head back and forth as if it will help the words make sense in her own mind.

“Wait what? We just had really amazing sex… Why do you think I’m going to break up with you Allison?”

Allison’s anger fuels her energy as she begins to gesture her frustration with her hands.

“Yeah, that sex was our last big “hooray” before the end-to get it out of our system one last time! Lydia, over the past couple of days you’ve been arguing with me about the dumbest shit, trying to micromanage our plans to a “t”, always being out of bed before I wake up in the mornings, and you’ve been distant with me since Texas. At first I thought it was just the road trip and being cramped, but today when you tried to make a plan for every single waking moment of the day I realized that you wanted to pull away to make the break up easier before we got to Beacon Hills.”

“What-”

“It’s okay Lydia. I just don’t want to be in a relationship that I know is going to end. I’ll even do the breaking up for you-”

Lydia realizes immediately that Allison misread her behaviors over the past couple of days and her eyes go wide as she registers that her girlfriend is about to break up with her over some stupid misunderstandings. She grabs Allison by her upper arms, jostling her a little to make her stop her tirade. Allison stops talking to look down into Lydia’s face.

“No! No it is not okay Allison! I don’t want to break up with you!”

Now it is Allison’s turn to be confused, her eyebrows come together again as she narrows her eyes slightly at Lydia.

“What?”

“I do not want to break up with you! I didn’t mean to pull away from you at all… It’s just the closer that we get to returning to Beacon Hills, the more anxious I’m becoming.”

“What's making you anxious? Us?”

“No it's... well this road trip has been amazing... It has been so fucking nice to get away from everything in Beacon Hills and it has been even nicer getting closer to you. I’m anxious about going back to that place that crawls with bad things because I'm feel like good can't survive there. And maybe I’m anxious about us…”

Allison doesn’t say anything, just raises her eyebrow slightly quietly edging Lydia on to continue talking.

“I have no idea what we're doing Allison! I’ve never liked a girl before you! What are our friends and family going to say? Wait, never mind. I don’t even care actually what they think but I know that I care a whole lot about you and I don’t want to fuck up. I have no idea what I'm doing! You know I hate not knowing what I am doing and I'd hate to hurt you even more.”

Allison’s face softens as she shuffles closer to Lydia, she leans down to rest her forehead against Lydia’s. Lydia takes a deep breath, steeling herself and regaining her composure.

“I don’t know what I am doing but... I know I’m with you which makes it okay in some weird way and that kinda scares me, in a good way, but it still scares me. I’m sorry I’ve been distant the past couple of days, this has all been going on in my head.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing either boo but I know I’m happy with you. And that means more to me than knowing what the fuck I am doing cause I can learn as long as you are willing to deal with my fumbling and messing up, but I can’t necessarily have this happiness with someone else even if I know 100% what I am doing.”

Lydia smiles up at Allison, kisses her sweetly and gently with a way that conveys her gratitude. Allison pulls back, her gaze serious and fond.

“But you need to tell me these things Lydia. Our relationship isn’t going to be easy, it's probably going to be messy, confusing, and hard when we get back to Beacon Hills. But if we talk about stuff, like our feelings, I'm positive can still be together. I’m willing to try at least because I think our relationship will be worth it.”

“I can’t promise I’ll be good at talking about my feelings but I will try.”

“Good. So we aren’t breaking up?”

“No. We're definitely not breaking up.”

“Perfect. You good boo?”

“Absolutely babe.”

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com)

Allison and Lydia are leaning against the hood of their car, watching the lights on the large suspension bridge in San Francisco slowly twinkle to life as the sun begins to set, making the historic bridge look truly golden in the magnificent light. The sky is an array of beautiful colors that match the cool breeze blowing through the air. It causes Allison to snuggle in closer to Lydia’s side. They sit in comfortable silence, happy quiet smiles on their face as they simply take in the breathtaking scene on the last night of their road trip. Despite having lived in different places in California over the years, this is Allison’s first time visiting San Fransisco. Lydia’s more than pleased to share this special moment with her.

“Wow. This view is in tents!”

Allison remarks, a goofy grin on her face in reference to the terrible pun Lydia made while in Yosemite Park. Every since that night, Allison tries to use the pun whenever she needs an adjective to describe something just to make Lydia laugh. It works without fail for probably the fifth time that day. Lydia laughs heartily, her shoulders shaking with the effort. 

"That doesn't make sense Allison! Stop trying to make it work!"

"It can work if I want it to!"

Lydia smiles as she bumps her shoulder against Allison's as she shakes her head fondly.

"God I love you babe-"

Lydia freezes the moment the words leave her mouth, her eyes widen in surprise as she turns to see Allison regarding her with an equally surprised facial expression. They both rush to respond, speaking in a flustered manner at the same time,

"I love you too!"  
"I mean it!"

They both pause as they let the other's words sink in, relief spills out of them in the form of blushing giggles. Allison kisses Lydia's forehead sweetly, she stays in close to lean their foreheads together. The smile on her lips matching Lydia's perfectly. 

"When did you realize that you love me?"

Lydia's smile turns smug as she replies nonchalantly, 

"Oh somewhere along the way..."

[ ](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> ~~I plan to update this fanfic weekly so I hope you stay interested!~~
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> ~~March 25th Update - I hope to update biweekly on Sundays now that I am back at school. Let's see how this goes?~~
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> May 28th Update - I can not make promises of updates and stick with them. I can promise that this fic will be done by the end of summer!
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> If you want to heckle me or chat, you can find me on my [graphics tumblr~](http://www.ratherbeshadowhunting.com) (which also has a link to my personal one).


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